ROYAL REPORT

By guest columnist Emily Andrews

During a particularly tumultuous time for the royals, the new Princess of Wales has been the very essence of decorum and duty. For Kate, it has been a case of keep calm and carry on. After celebrating a traditional Christmas and New Year, the focus will be back firmly on her work.

Just like the late Queen, she adopts a mantra of ‘never complain, never explain’, and doesn’t speak out on personal family matters.

She lets her work do the talking, and has made early childhood and mental health two of her top priorities.

Her activism has a new focus too, in Community Impact Days. These were launched in November, the first one taking place in Yorkshire and raising £350,000 for local mental health services.

Kate and William want to change the way they undertake royal engagements, bringing a modernity to the way they do things and ensure lasting impact.

So instead of visiting deprived communities, giving them a day in the sun and then hoping money will be raised as a result, the Prince and Princess of Wales want to reverse the process by using the build-up to a visit to generate money, which they can then announce and disburse when they get there.

It is a bit of a gamble because it will, in effect, put a cash sum on the value of royal visits.

But the Waleses have often been frustrated with the focus of media coverage in the past – too much about fashion or body language, rather than the issues at hand.

A royal aide told me: ‘Kate saw how her predecessor Diana, Princess of Wales, could generate worldwide publicity about AIDS, landmines or leprosy simply through her presence, and the new Princess of Wales is equally determined to be a force for positive change. She wants to achieve impact and legacy. Raising money in advance for disadvantaged areas, through partnerships with their Royal Foundation, will be part of their vision of a modern monarchy. There will be further partnerships next year, and the couple really hope this will help with the cost of living crisis over the coming winter.’

Kate knows she must pull off a balancing act between maintaining traditions and moving with the times, but she seems able to balance both in her own inimitable way.

✢ Emily Andrews is a royal biographer and commentator.