The Duchess Of cambridge
It’s business as usual for the Duchess of cambridge as william and harry prepare to put their differences aside to unveil a tribute to their beloved mother diana
The royal family appears to be feeling the strain as relations between Princes William and Harry sour further ahead of the unveiling of a new statue in memory of Princess Diana on Thursday. But one person managing to maintain her sunny disposition is the Duchess of Cambridge.
She was in high spirits at the Natural History Museum in London last week, surrounded by children from St Mary of the Angels Primary School and making toy spiders in the wildlife garden. Sweetly, she offered the children a chance to sample some of the honey collected from the beehives at her Norfolk country home, Anmer Hall.
Visiting the day after her husband’s 39th birthday, Kate learnt how communities across the UK will benefit from the museum’s Urban Nature Project aimed at helping find solutions to protecting the planet. With the aid of other UK museums and wildlife organisations, the idea is to create a thriving urban nature movement in Britain’s towns and cities, and provide practical tools for supporting the wildlife around us.
Dressed casually in cropped jeans from & Other Stories and a salmon-pink Chloé blazer, she appeared carefree and happy, as body language expert Derek Heron notes.
“Kate is in her element as she chats to the adults and children around her. Her sleeves are rolled up in a casual manner reflecting her informal mind-set, putting those around her at ease. She has dropped all formality as she sits crossed-legged on the decking in her jeans and blazer,” he says.
“This is a rare occasion indeed. She has clearly cast aside her position as a royal to simply let her hair down and enjoy the day. Her smiles are genuine. You can see that in the creases in her eyes and the wide, broad, open smiles. Kate is simply glowing as her true personality shines through.”
It’s been a busy time for the duchess, who was last week named patron of The Forward Trust, which in May merged with one of her first charity patronages, Action on Addiction. Its support for families affected by addiction will continue to run through The Forward Trust.
While Kate was occupied with projects close to her heart, Prince William had celebrated Father’s Day with his older children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, at the Queen’s Sandringham Estate in Norfolk where they helped kick off a half marathon. And to mark Father’s Day, the duke and duchess shared a never-before-seen photo of William and the children at the 2019 Trooping the Colour.
Kate’s trip to the Natural History Museum came in the run-up to the much-anticipated unveiling of the statue of Diana, the late Princess of Wales. On what would have been
their mother’s 60th birthday, William and Harry will come together to unveil the memorial they commissioned in her memory.
Much has been made of this reunion. Since Harry and Meghan’s explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey aired across the world in March, the brothers have barely spoken.
At one point, it was rumoured Harry wouldn’t be returning to the UK for the event.
Despite their differences, however, it seems they have agreed to put them aside as they prepare to come together to pay tribute to their mother.
The idea for a statue came three years ago – before the rift – and the site in Kensington Palace’s Sunken Garden, where it will be erected, is said to have been chosen because it was one of Princess Diana’s favourite spots. In 2017, on the 20th anniversary of her death, the garden was transformed into a memorial to her, with a display of some of her most loved flowers, including white roses and lilies, tulips and daisies.
The statue has been created by artist
Ian Rank-broadley, who is also behind the portrait of the Queen that appears on British coins, and both brothers are set to make their own speeches at its unveiling. The Duchess of Cambridge is understood to be attending the ceremony, although Prince Harry’s wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, will remain at home in Montecito, California, after the birth of their second child, Lilibet Diana, last month.
The princes are clearly keen to show a united front, but Harry’s arrival in the UK this week comes amid a fresh set of stinging accusations of in-fighting.
A new book by royal expert Robert Lacey has dished the dirt on the royal feud, revealing most of the hostilities began when William questioned his then future sister-in-law’s suitability as a wife for his brother.
In Battle Of Brothers: William, Harry And The Inside Story Of A Family In Tumult, the author (who gives historical advice to Netflix show The Crown) claims that when Prince William heard allegations by palace staff of bullying by the former Suits actress, he was “very concerned”. He called his younger brother to talk things through, only for Harry to reportedly hang up on him.
Lacey’s book quotes Kensington Palace staffers who have said that “people felt run over” by Meghan and were unable to figure out “how to handle her”. He also claims the Duke of Cambridge had told an old friend that he thought Meghan “governed by fear” and was “following an agenda”. The Duchess of
Cambridge had apparently been “wary of [Meghan] from the start”.
The bullying accusations have been vehemently denied by the Sussexes.
“When Harry flared up in furious defence of his wife, the elder brother persisted,” Lacey writes. “Harry shut off his phone angrily, so William went to speak to him personally. The prince was horrified by what he had just been told about Meghan’s alleged behaviour, and he wanted to hear what Harry had to say.”
The showdown between the two was said to have been so fierce that William split his household from his brother’s.
In fact, royal biographer Robert Jobson adds that the tensions now run so deep between the brothers that we should not hold our breath for a kiss-and-make-up moment on Thursday. He believes the two will put on brave faces in public, but behind closed doors there’s still a long way to go to build trust again.
“Their indignation at the BBC may, in some way, bring them all together,” he adds, referring to the scandal over Martin Bashir’s 1995 interview with Princess Diana. “Frankly the feuding has got to stop at some stage, and the blaming and the finger pointing.”
When Kate set off on her first official overseas tour as a fully fledged royal, the world watched to see how she’d cope. It was the summer of 2011 and she was back in the spotlight two months after her wedding to Prince William.
The couple, who became Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their marriage, travelled around Canada, taking in Ontario, Quebec, Prince Edward Island, Northwest Territories and Alberta, before heading to Los Angeles. The 11-day trip changed the public face of British royalty, introducing the idea of a modern monarchy that was relatable, approachable and down-to-earth.
Clearly still in the honeymoon period, there were romantic displays of affection between the newlyweds, with William putting his arm around his wife as she gazed at him, besotted.
Express royal correspondent Richard Palmer was there to witness it all. “There was this informality about William and Kate that no one had seen before,” he recalls. “They just seemed quite natural and not as rigid. Kate was still nervous about showing affection in public, but at the Calgary Stampede rodeo, there was some really great banter between them. A reporter who’s skilled in lip-reading spotted Kate pointing out the chaps worn by a rodeo bull rider, saying to William, ‘We should get you in a pair of these!’ It was quite racy.”
There was also romance in the air when William whisked Kate away mid-tour for a surprise “second honeymoon”. Leaving their entourage behind, they paddled across Blatchford Lake in a canoe for a quiet meal and an evening alone on the uninhabited Eagle Island in the Northwest Territories.
Another water activity led to playful rivalry between them, both then 29. After going head-to-head in a dragon boat race at Dalvay Lake, the triumphant duke consoled his wife with a hug at the finish line. “We hadn’t really seen their competitive side before then. It was a demonstration of how they were bringing a new face to royal tours,” says Richard.
A pivotal moment, which demonstrated a shift of popularity from William to Kate, was in Ottawa where the couple laid wreaths at the Canadian Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Describing the atmosphere, Richard says, “I remember the excitement and the big crowds chanting, ‘We want Kate, we want Kate!’ I think some of them even groaned when the pair split off during the walkabout and it was William, not his wife, who approached them.”
Poignant scenes were played out, too, including their meeting with six-year-old adrenal cancer patient Diamond Marshall, who’d dreamt of meeting “a real princess”. The exchange between the little girl, who sadly died in 2014,