Kate Middleton has long struggled with a reputation for not working. Before her 2024 cancer diagnosis, Kate’s pattern was set: a burst of photo-ops, then radio silence. That cycle is now a royal routine. In 2023, she clocked about 120 duties, barely a third of Princess Anne’s 400. Even friendly outlets noted that one-third of those took place within 12 miles of Adelaide Cottage. The result: persistent nicknames such as “Princess of Slough” and “Duchess of Do-Little,” aimed at her.
Local engagements kept her close to the school gate, yet pressure mounted after Harry and Meghan exited. Queen Elizabeth II died, Charles ascended, and the monarchy leaned on the Waleses to fill the gap. Kate’s calendar should have expanded. Instead of stepping up, she stretched summer holidays and let overseas tours disappear.
A Convenient Rebrand
Before Harry met Meghan, the British press routinely criticized Kate Middleton for her lack of work ethic. At the time, her role as a young mother gave her a natural excuse, caring for her children was framed as her top priority.
But when Meghan entered the royal scene in 2017, something shifted. The media abruptly stopped scrutinizing Kate’s minimal workload and instead began portraying her as the perfect English rose. Overnight, stories that once questioned her contribution became glowing comparisons highlighting Kate’s “classical” beauty, Britishness, and traditionalism, especially when contrasted with Meghan and her style.
On paper, Kate’s higher royal rank, whiteness, and perceived Englishness should have guaranteed her status and respect above Meghan. But as early as 2020, after the Sussexes left royal life, the press painted Kate as a fragile victim whose workload became unbearable in Meghan’s absence, while still using her as a tool to vilify Meghan at every turn. And while the press was busy polishing Kate’s crown, she seemed busy raiding Meghan’s playbook, because apparently, when you can’t outshine her, you just copy her.
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When Copying Wasn’t Enough
Let’s not pretend this is new. For years, people and even some tabloids, have pointed out that Kate Middleton has a habit of “taking inspiration” from Princess Diana and Meghan’s style.
Meghan’s Together: Our Community Cookbook, released just four months after Meghan’s 2018 wedding, which raised over £557,000 in its first year and has now passed about £900,000 for Grenfell survivors. Kate’s first book, the Hold Still photo project with the National Portrait Gallery and Mind, didn’t appear until 2021, a full decade after her own wedding.
But here’s the catch: imitation only works when you’re keeping pace. Now that Meghan’s free to launch bolder initiatives, produce podcasts, and land global speaking gigs, all while raising two young children, Kate’s limited royal walkabouts just don’t compare. The copying can’t keep up with the actual doing. So, rather than look like she’s trailing behind in real time, Kate fading into the background might be the most strategic choice. You can’t lose a race if you stop running.
Meghan’s Real-World Success Highlights Royal Insecurity
The problem is, once Meghan stepped outside palace control, she was free to pursue creative ventures and philanthropic projects without royal approval. Suddenly, it wasn’t just about counting handshakes at charity visits. Meghan’s résumé, successful actress, founder of a lifestyle brand, impactful global work, made it clear she was operating on a different level. And she was doing all of it while parenting two young children.
Embed from Getty ImagesMeghan Sussex was a keynote speaker at the 2025 TIME100 Summit. In a sad attempt to compete, Kate Middleton landed on TIME’s “philanthropy” list—co-signed by the same royal donors funding her work. One leads onstage. The other follows in press releases.
When the press and palace created a competition between the two women, they failed to realize that Meghan wasn’t just a duchess; she was a career woman with accomplishments that could be measured outside royal protocol. The metrics became impossible to ignore, from her successful podcast deals to her and Harry’s $100 million Netflix contract. So perhaps it’s no surprise that Kate stepped back. Competing with Meghan in the royal fold was one thing. Competing with a fully realized, experienced career woman? That would only expose the monarchy’s most sheltered player. In that sense, doing less may be Kate’s smartest move.
Why Stepping Back Suits the Palace—And Always Has
Behind the scenes, royal advisers now frame Kate Middleton’s retreat as sensible, even strategic. Her video message in September 2024 announcing she was cancer-free earned sympathy and brought valuable goodwill. A lighter schedule reduces the risk of PR disasters like the infamous edited Mother’s Day photo, which ignited the viral #WheresKate backlash. And frankly, fewer appearances help shield her from uncomfortable comparisons, especially with Meghan Sussex, who continues to build a globally successful portfolio of creative and philanthropic work.
Yet each absence chips away at the image of the “working royal.” If the future queen can’t maintain even a scaled-back calendar, what exactly are taxpayers funding? King Charles, still undergoing cancer treatment himself, has managed to attend military parades, hospital visits, and garden parties. The contrast is striking.
No one begrudges her recovery time, but the workload question predates her diagnosis. Her withdrawal isn’t new, it’s the continuation of a pattern. For over a decade, she’s been selectively visible, tightly curated, and quietly protected by palace machinery. The cancer diagnosis offered context for 2024. But the conversation around her workload has existed for years. And if she couldn’t keep pace with her 75-year-old father-in-law, who is battling cancer, what will change now?
The palace insists there’s no crisis, just “good days and bad days.” But inconsistencies remain. Her last-minute cancellation from Royal Ascot was reportedly due to an administrative blunder, not medical necessity. Whether the error was internal or strategic, it only deepens the public’s trust issues with Kensington Palace communications.
Kate was never chosen for her professional drive. She had no full-time career before marrying into the Firm. She was selected to be the anti-Diana, quiet, compliant, and nonthreatening. That worked for the Crown, but not necessarily for the country. Now, as her children grow and eventually leave home, the question looms: What does her role look like beyond motherhood?
Will cancer remain the permanent shield from royal duty? Or will the palace eventually admit what’s long been obvious, that she was never meant to be a full-time royal at all?
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Hold Still was not Kate’s book. because they needed her to have a book too, they made her the face of the NPG’s work and built the publicity for and around her with the usual sycophantic coverage that didn’t do anything to move the needle
While no one wants to question anyone’s medical claims; and no two patients are alike; you have to admit that KP’s and their media’s narrative around her diagnosis is baffling at best and down right suspicious at worst especially when compared to Charles. What exactly was wrong with her is not clear, what the treatment was is not clear, but they loudly (twice) proclaimed she was in remission. Now months later they’re acting like they’re about to announce another remission. Meanwhile Charles journey is easier to follow, because it’s logical.
It’s interesting that the fall back is never to have Kate “work” more, but to spend weeks/months/years coming up with ridiculous narratives for why she can’t work
On the premise that Kate was ‘too common’ Queen Camilla tried to persuade William not to marry her and, sadly, her foresight may yet come home to roost if the monarchy is not successful in lowering its’ sights to accomodate Kate’s ability to cope at her natural ability level as William is helping her to do by flying solo on many duties. The succession of the monarchy depends on the marriage being strong, hence tha constant positive narrative of a compliant press. Kate is doing almost no duties involving people of rank whom she finds intimidating. William tried to correct his inappropriate relationship by briefly breaking with Kate, having developed an enormous crush on drop-dead beautiful aristocratic Isabella Gough-Calthorpe, confirmed by the palace, who declined his numerous proposals and he slunk back to Waity Katie. The consequences of marrying a pretty, attractive and spirited but humble backgrounded girl, relentlessly honed and polished by the desperate palace-patronised royal rota tabloids into something she could never become, has taken its’ toll on Kate who is locked unwillingly in a gilded cage from where she is unwilling or unable to sing her chosen lament and it has affected her health and confidence.
Royal and aristocratic elitist culture in Britain cannot be learnt, it is inbred and, if ‘you are not one of us’ you are cruelly made to feel inferior and second-class. Kate was not helped when Queen Camilla unkindly likened Kate’s parents, once shop-assistant, Carole, and Michael Middleton to ‘The Fockers’- where cracks form between two families due to their contrasting personalities and backgrounds. The future king George is thus descended from a shop assistant mother whose father was a painter and decorator and grandfather a Durham coal miner – proud workers and the backbone of industrial Britain, but hardly the choice one might expect of the Windsors, one of the most ancient and tradition-bound monarchies in the world.
The royal predicament is not helped by one royal expert and author, David Starkey, who authored ‘Henry: Model of a tyrant’ and wrote “that the monarchy is fading into irrelevance and aimed a brutal dig at William saying “nature intended him to take up a rather different career; he is hopeless and was intended to be the manager of a second division football team” adding “ he’d be rather stretched at that”.
Unkind words but perhaps prescient.
So the palace has been okay from the get-go with Kate being a part-time royal but that was strictly forbidden for Harry and Meghan? Make that make sense, KP/BP!