Kate Middleton Climbed Down From a Tractor, and Apparently We’re Supposed to Be in Awe

There are days when royal reporting makes you wonder whether everyone involved has collectively forgotten that Kate Middleton is a 44-year-old woman.

HELLO! published an article this week with the headline, “Princess Kate ‘effortlessly’ climbs down steep steps of tractor leaving fans in awe.” Yes. Climbed down. From a tractor.

The moment happened during Kate and Prince William’s September 17 visit to the Isle of Bute in Scotland, where the couple met local groups and took part in activities connected to community life and conservation. Kate wore brown Holland Cooper jeans, boots and a Burberry trench coat for the outing.  

At some point, William drove a Massey Ferguson tractor. Kate then got out. This apparently required a full analysis of her athletic prowess.

HELLO! described Kate climbing from the cab, jumping from the top step and turning around to close the door behind her. According to the magazine, she performed the manoeuvre with “effortless grace,” while the movement demonstrated her “natural athleticism,” even though she was wearing a long trench coat.

I have watched adults exit vehicles before. I was unaware we were supposed to score them. The coverage becomes even funnier when you realise Kate was not rappelling from a helicopter or completing an obstacle course. She climbed down several steps, landed on the ground and shut a door. That’s it.

Yet we were treated to declarations that there is apparently “nothing she can’t do” and that Prince William “hit the jackpot.” Because his wife successfully exited agricultural machinery.

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The Bar Has Reached the Earth’s Core

We have written before about the strange infantilisation of Kate in royal coverage, and this might be one of the purest examples yet.

A grown woman performs an ordinary physical movement, and instead of simply reporting what happened during the engagement, the royal press transforms it into another display of supposedly extraordinary competence.

Kate speaks slightly louder? Growth.

Kate hugs someone? Natural warmth.

Kate drives? Impressive.

Kate gets off a tractor without falling over? Athletic icon.

At a certain point, this type of praise stops flattering its subject and starts insulting her.

The Princess of Wales is an adult woman who has spent more than 15 years inside the royal system. She has three children, a large staff and one of the most prominent public positions in Britain. Nobody should be amazed that she can descend a set of steps.

And the reaction outside HELLO!’s curated Instagram examples was considerably less reverential. The replies under the magazine’s X post mocked the premise itself, with people essentially asking why an adult using her legs had become news. That seems like a fair question.

Compare the Way Diana Was Covered

Princess Diana certainly received frivolous coverage. Her clothes, hair and body generated endless headlines.

But Diana also gave journalists substantive material because she repeatedly put herself into difficult situations.

She shook hands with AIDS patients in 1987 when fear and misinformation about HIV remained widespread. She walked through a cleared path in an Angolan minefield in 1997 while campaigning for a ban on landmines. Those images mattered because the actions carried political and social significance.

Nobody needed to write “Diana Effortlessly Walks Across Ground Leaving Fans in Awe.”

The significance was obvious.

That does not mean Kate needs to become Diana. She doesn’t. But judging by the endless “Kate channels Diana” headlines, the media often seems eager to cast her in that role. They are different women with different personalities, strengths and public identities.

But after more than a decade as a senior working royal, Kate should not benefit from a media culture that treats ordinary behaviour as evidence of greatness. It actually diminishes her.

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