Kate Middleton News: Kate Solo In Luxembourg Is A New Stage In Kate’s Royal Road
Kate Middleton will be Princess of Wales one day, and in the natural royal course of things, Kate will eventually be Queen Consort Kate. Now, as Prince William’s wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, Middleton is getting a chance to try out her princess wings as she takes on a growing list of challenging “soft diplomacy” duties.
The Standard reports that Middleton is set to “make another solo official foreign visit on behalf of the Government” this May at the request of Great Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Duchess Kate will visit Luxembourg on May 11 to participate in the commemoration of the 1867 Treaty of London.
The Duchess of Cambridge will visit Luxembourg
on the 11th of May and attend the commemoration of the 1867 Treaty of London. pic.twitter.com/pyrB9WiAbG— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) March 28, 2017
The treaty confirmed Luxembourg’s independence after an attempt by Emperor Napoleon III to purchase Luxembourg for France, and there are some observers who are amused that Kate’s job in Luxembourg is to help smooth the way for Brexit. Many of those who voted in favor of Brexit felt that the United Kingdom’s membership in the EU was in the nature of a sell-out to France and other European nations.
Middleton and Prince William recently visited France on the same Brexit mission of soft diplomacy. The hugely popular young Cambridges are seen as the royals most likely to succeed at charming European heads-of-state into making post-Brexit relationships with European countries less stressful for British officials. Kate’s enormous success in Paris is probably what led to the change of plans for the Luxembourg visit.
Hello magazine writes that Middleton and Prince William had a “jam-packed schedule” in the “whirlwind two-day” visit to Paris. They began the first day by meeting privately with French President Francois Hollande at the Elysee Palace, went on to a reception and black tie dinner, and managed to fit in a compassionate conversation with victims and first responders from the terrorist attacks in Bataclan and Nice, as well as the much-anticipated Wales vs. France Six Nations rugby match.
Kate and Prince William excel at the “charm offensive” and are at home in nearly every situation where they find themselves when on royal duty. That grace and warmth are reminiscent of both Queen Elizabeth and Prince William’s iconic mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
Making royal visits on her own is a “significant development in Kate’s royal career” and proof that the Duchess, who was a commoner before her 2011 marriage to Prince William, is definitely made of princess material.
Kate has changed her style over the years since she first met Prince William as teenagers together at St Andrew’s University. Us magazine describes how Middleton altered her looks from “fresh-faced college grad to a poised princess” since Kate and Prince William’s 2005 graduation.
Kate’s sophisticated and carefully calibrated style today are the result of years of training and experience, years that have prepared her for a future role as Princess of Wales and Queen Consort of England.
The Duchess’ own take on the changes is more about her role as a mother than it is about her upcoming promotions. She said that becoming a mother has made her “fundamental identity” change completely as she moved from “thinking of yourself as primarily an individual to suddenly being a mother, first and foremost.”
Middleton might not realize it yet, but this transformation from acting as an individual to becoming a mother is very similar to the metamorphosis from duchess to queen. Kate Middleton is well on her way to becoming Queen Catherine.
What do you think? Is Kate Middleton ready to take on heavy responsibilities like the Brexit “soft diplomacy” all on her own?
[Featured Image by Dominic Lipinski/Getty Images]
