After a turbulent year for those on the Royal Family stage, public opinion has started to question why we might actually need one – but a new conversation has been shaping up since Princess Kate’s timely return back into the royal spotlight last year. And it’s becoming a lot more personal…

From kickstarting her very own YouTube series to choosing visiting a cancer centre over Royal Ascot, Princess Kate’s relationship with the public has become an increasingly transparent one, and, according to Royal editor at The Sunday Times, Roya Nikkhah, shows a “quiet consistency, strategic empathy and a princess who seems to know exactly where she is going now” – and it’s giving us more of an idea on what sort of queen we can expect to see in years to come.

From the impact of her cancer diagnosis to her family life and role as a mother, we take a look at the Royal Expert opinions that are asking what to expect as she steps into life as a future queen.

Her recovery journey

Since publicly announcing she was in remission from cancer last January, Princess Kate has been shifting her focus and reprioritising her engagements – and limiting her public duties as a result.

 “She said her priorities are going to be staying cancer-free, the children, and family life,” says assistant editor of The Times, Kate Mansey. “She can’t do everything – she doesn’t want to exhaust herself.”

“What we’ve seen emerge from her this year is a clear signalling of, ‘this is what I’m going to prioritise now going forwards,’” she adds. And after it was revealed that the Princess of Wales pulled out of Royal Ascot, and instead visited a cancer centre the following week, “it feels like the priority for her, in part of her recovery journey, are engagements that focus on patients who have gone through what she has gone through,” adds Kate.

“I think it goes to the heart of Kate pre-cancer, and Kate post-cancer,” adds Roya, who attended the Princess of Wales’ annual ‘Together at Christmas’ carol service at Westminster Abbey in December. “The theme reflected a lot of what Kate’s new messaging is, post cancer, during her recovery. The theme of love. It’s very wholesome.”

And after Princess Kate published a heartfelt letter to her guests that talked about love in all its forms, community, and togetherness, Roya felt that “maybe that’s sending us a message about what she sees as a priority now.”

“Running through all of this is her central theme of love and togetherness and taking time to be with one another. If you pick up all the threads of everything she’s working on, that’s what joins it all together.”

Mother Nature

Alongside themes of love over the past few years, Princess Kate has also brought healing and the power of nature to the forefront of her focus as a royal.

As her new YouTube series ‘Mother Nature’ shares videos on the importance of nature for her own healing journey, and she talks about how the changing of the seasons can impact mental health, the Princess of Wales is starting to find more present ways to connect with the public – highlighting her priorities as a modern royal.

“Another thing I’ve noticed about her in the last few months is the tonal shift in some of the things she’s been saying in some of these ‘Mother Nature’ video series that have been released,” says Roya.

“The phrases were about how she had learnt the importance of letting go of what is no longer needed, and the purpose of finding clarity in what’s important going forwards. For someone who is the future Queen, that is basically Kate saying, ‘I now know what’s important to me going forwards, and I know what’s not. I know what I’m going to focus on.” she adds.

“It’s clearly the impact that any serious illness would have on anybody,” adds Kate. “Seeing her be so open about her focus and her priority is unusual for a senior member of the royal family.”

Royal access

According to a YouGov poll, Princess Kate has been voted the most popular royal, currently tracking at 68% in popularity alongside Prince William – and with both the Prince and Princess of Wales becoming increasingly front and centre in supporting the King and Queen at state visits, and the King’s health being uncertain, the re-emergence of Kate and her popularity with the public is proving to be important for the monarchy going forward.

“She’s so important visually, and as part of the structure to the whole thing,” says Kate. “She is their star asset in many ways. It’s so crucial to the popularity of the royal family.”

“What is it that people really are drawn to with the Princess of Wales? I think part of it is that she brings more of an ordinary background to the family. People can relate to her in some ways, but at the same time she is just Kate.”

Roya describes the Princess as a mix of being relatable to the public in terms of being a mother to three children, but also never giving too much away. “I think there is a mystique about Kate that the late Queen had,” she says. “A lot of people still feel Kate is living an almost ordinary life, but there is a lot about her that we don’t know. She’s quite guarded in the way that she presents herself.”

But it’s in what she does choose to publicly represent, from her Early Years project to her social media candidness and engagement with members of the public, that resonates with people – and the decision to prioritise family over duty feels like the right one to many.