Royal historian Catherine Mayer says that Princess Kate has done a “very clever job” of creating the perfect formula for adapting to life in the royal family, which can often be a pressure cooker.
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Speaking on Hello!’s “A Right Royal Podcast” this week, Mayer said that the Princess of Wales does “very little” speaking in public and engages in “no confessional spilling.”
“She has done such a very clever job of finding a way to adapt to the institution,” Mayer said. “That does not mean I think she’s had it easy.”
Mayer, the author of the new book Divide & Rule: Royal Women and Their Battles, added of the future queen: “She does very little speaking and almost no confessional spilling of anything about who she is. She and [Prince] William have also chosen a group of friends who, as we know, do talk to the media, but only when they’re told to and not on the record. Otherwise, they don’t talk at all.”
Kate met William in 2001 when both were first-year students at the University of St Andrews—25 years ago this autumn. Mayer said that Kate’s degree in art history, which she completed in 2005, has helped her adapt to life in the royal fishbowl.
“I saw her own increasing mastery of imagery,” Mayer said. “So it’s not just that she’s chosen things like being involved with the National Portrait Gallery or doing her own photography. She understands how to use imagery to fulfil that royal role.”
The princess typically shares photographs of her children—Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 11, and Prince Louis, 8—on their birthdays each year and for major occasions such as Mother’s Day as a way of controlling how much the public sees of them.
“She is also credited with the idea of giving out intimate family pictures as a way not of infringing on her own privacy, but protecting it, because it stops paparazzi shots from having the same level of value,” Mayer said. “So it’s really clever.”
Speaking to People, Mayer said that “Kate is the closest they have to a rockstar member these days, and she’s the one everyone wants to see.”
“That’s a huge burden for anyone to carry, let alone someone who has had existential battles with their health,” Mayer continued, referring to Kate’s 2024 cancer diagnosis.
After announcing her diagnosis publicly in March 2024 in an intimate and candid video, Kate’s first public appearance was at Trooping the Colour that June.
“Kate not only had to look vibrant and in command of her role, but she knew she would be scrutinised more than ever,” Mayer said.
In January 2025, Kate announced that she had completed a course of preventative chemotherapy the previous summer and was in remission from cancer in another deeply personal video.
She shared the milestone following a visit to The Royal Marsden Hospital in London, where she personally thanked the medical staff who had treated her and spent time comforting current cancer patients. In her statement, she expressed deep relief but noted that navigating the “rollercoaster” of a cancer diagnosis takes time and adjustment to a “new normal.”
Kate has gradually returned to royal duties both in the UK and abroad and was recently seen at Royal Ascot with her husband William, her mother, Carole Middleton, and her sister-in-law, Alizée Thevenet, after being forced to miss the previous two events because of her ill health.
The princess looked stunning in a summer Yellow Roksanda Brigitte dress with a matching hat.
