What sour grapes to carp at Kate and Wills’ feelgood tour
SARAH VINE
As The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge sat shivering on a bench at Batley station in west Yorkshire, I’m sure the thought of being at home in front of the fire with their three children must have crossed their minds.
Quite apart from the biting cold and the quaint conditions aboard the royal train (separate beds, a Formica dining table and a suspicious looking amount of plywood), the run-up to Christmas is stressful enough for any parent, with end- of-term plays, endless school fundraisers and teachers’ presents to worry about.
Kate is very hands- on with all that sort of stuff. The last thing she — or frankly anyone — needs at this time of year is a three-day, 1,250-mile work trip, let alone one where you have to look a) camera ready at all times and b) utterly ecstatic to be there.
Nevertheless, there she was, alongside her husband — stylish, smiling and unflappable, just as she always is. above all, doing her duty.
THAT’s an unfashionable concept in this day and age, where private needs too often seem to eclipse public ones. and a reminder that, for all Kate and william’s commitment to their young brood, they will never shirk in their commitment to their wider family, that is to say the British people.
This pandemic has, like all emergencies, really sorted the sheep from the goats. and few public figures have come into their own like Kate and william. while other royals have taken a back seat — either due to circumstance or desire — the Duke and Duchess seem to have redoubled their efforts to connect with the nation at a time of deep crisis.
In their own seemingly effortless way, they have made themselves quietly essential.
It’s been a masterclass in how royalty can remain relevant in the modern age, and their popularity has rightly increased because of it. all of which probably explains why Nicola sturgeon has been so grumpy about their trip to scotland, and why the welsh health Minister, Vaughan Gething, has been equally disobliging.
Both were chilly on the issue of the royal couple travelling during Covid restrictions, even though — as Kensington Palace has been at pains to point out — they’ve adhered to the letter to all the guidelines. and, of course, william has already had Covid.
But let’s be honest, it’s not really about the rules, is it?
Kate and william are victims of their own success. Because at a time when both devolved administrations have seized the opportunities presented by Covid to foster divisions and further dreams of independence, the Duke and Duchess are a reminder of all that is good about the British Crown and the Union, which sturgeon especially is keen to dissolve.
having so successfully entranced our Celtic cousins with visions of a brave new scottish dawn, how inconvenient to have Kate and william showing up — twinkly ambassadors for all the moraleboosting qualities of royalty.
It must be especially galling because until they came along, things were going so well for antimonarchists. as well as Prince andrew’s troubles over the Jeffrey epstein affair, 2020 has also been the year of Megxit, with arguably the royal Family’s brightest stars turning their backs on the UK.
FOR opponents of the royals, it must have seemed as though all their Christmases had come at once. But they hadn’t bargained on wills and Kate.
This is a couple who could easily have spent the pandemic holed up in one of several palaces, eating lime creams and ordering flunkeys to bring them more quails’ eggs.
Instead, they’ve made themselves endlessly available, and not in a look-at-me-aren’t-I-a-specialraindrop sort of a way like harry and Meghan ( who prefer to express their commitment to a nation stricken by Covid from the comfort of their £11 million mansion in California), but altruistically and with palpable sincerity.
For two people to show such maturity and solid moral compass at such a relatively young age — they are both just 38 — demonstrates that whatever else may befall Britain, the long-term future of the monarchy is in safe hands.
what a comfort, not just for the Queen — but for the nation as a whole in these uncertain times.