First, the media turned Kate Middleton’s long wait for a ring into a fairy tale courtship. Then they rebranded her quiet years as quiet strength. Now they want you to believe she had a real career before becoming a royal.
People magazine published a soft-focus rundown of Kate’s “normal jobs.” Deckhand, waitress, part-time accessories buyer at Jigsaw and project manager at her parents’ party supply company. The article frames these as proof that she worked hard before marrying Prince William. It even quotes her 2010 engagement interview, where she said, “I’ve been working very hard for the family business.”
Here is the problem. A summer deckhand gig, a brief waitressing stint she admits she was terrible at, a part-time retail role and a job inside a family company that later went into administration do not add up to a remarkable résumé. They add up to a perfectly ordinary, unremarkable work history. And that would be fine if the press stopped pretending it was more.
But the royal media cannot help itself. It inflates everything about Kate. Her short speeches become powerful addresses. Her basic duties become exhausting labour. And now her thin employment record becomes a working woman’s origin story.
The Double Standard With Meghan Sussex Is Blinding
Compare Kate’s background with Meghan Sussex. Meghan graduated with a double major in theatre and international relations from Northwestern University. She interned at the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires. She acted in more than 100 episodes of Suits, plus 23 other television shows and eight films. Meghan designed two fashion collections for Reitmans. She founded The Tig, a lifestyle blog with millions of readers. She spoke at the United Nations for Women. She worked with World Vision in Rwanda and the Myna Mahila Foundation in India. She even taught calligraphy and bookbinding on the side. So unlike her sister-in-law, she would not be making handwritten typos.
That is a career, and it is a career that is documented, public, with verifiable work. And the same royal-media ecosystem that now celebrates Kate’s deckhand summer spent years mocking Meghan’s acting as frivolous, her advocacy as self-promotion and her ambition as a character flaw.
Other Royal Women Brought Serious Resumes to the Altar
Kate’s defenders often say she should not be compared to Meghan. Fine. Compare her to other royal women instead. Queen Letizia of Spain was a celebrated journalist and news anchor. Queen Máxima of the Netherlands worked in investment banking at HSBC, Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Kleinwort Benson. Queen Mary of Denmark had a career in advertising and marketing at Microsoft. Empress Masako of Japan was a diplomat at the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Queen Rania of Jordan worked in finance at Citibank and Apple. Even Princess Sofia of Sweden, once a model and reality TV personality, co-founded a nonprofit for at-risk children before marriage.
Kate’s pre-royal employment does not stand next to those women. She held jobs. She did not build a profession.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Media Knows What It Is Doing
The press does not write these articles because Kate’s work history is impressive. It writes them because the monarchy needs the Wales brand to look grounded, hardworking and relatable. A future queen who once scrubbed boats and served tables fits that image perfectly. Never mind that those jobs were brief, decades ago and barely documented. But the story still sells, nevertheless.
And while the story sells, the same outlets quietly ignore why no paparazzi ever snapped Kate at her Jigsaw desk or Party Pieces office. They were not interested back then because there was nothing to exploit. Now there is a narrative to build.
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Final Thoughts
Kate Middleton had jobs before she became a princess. That is a fact. She earned money, gained some experience and stayed busy while waiting for William to propose. None of that is shameful. But none of it is remarkable either.
The press does not need to turn a modest work history into a legend. Kate will be queen one day. That title requires no fake résumé. The rewriting must stop somewhere. Let her be the woman who married the future king. That is enough. Pretending she was also a career powerhouse only makes the media look desperate. It also embarrasses Kate every time someone compares her to royal women who actually built professions before marriage.
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I lived not far from the marina where Kate worked for 4 weeks, not a whole summer. She wore the smallest / shortest shorts ever seen, even though the weather wasn’t that great. And she wasn’t popular within the team which she despised. Her interest was with the wealthy male boat owners. She was very flirty. To the point that one day, as she was teaching visitors how to use a life jacket, dozens of condoms that had been stuffed there by her colleagues popped up all over the room. Kate was furious, and her anger, bordering on hatred lasted for days. And it’s Meghan who’s accused by derangers for having been a yacht girl.
It would need to be verified but it’s likely this was the same summer she chased but missed William in Chile.
Finally, I personally question the veracity of both her employment for her parents and Jigsaw: The owner invited her, her family as well as William to his villa in Mustique, several times, including early in her marriage or perhaps even better. It would need to be verified but I recall Norman Baker mentioning it in his book. I may not be very clear but the closeness between Jigsaw owner and Kate+Kate’s family make it dubious she seriously worked there.
Then Mary Donaldson, only worked for microsoft in france for a short time. fred set that up for her. i doubt she worked that much or that hard since she did have to visit him, etc. it was to get her closer to denmark and fred as they were dating. they fluffed that up. she worked in real estate or something, while in australia.
also, princess sophia was a glamour girl who posed practically naked. project playground was already founded. they latched her onto that afterwards when she started dating the prince and labeled it as her co-founding the org., which wasn’t true.
kate may have worked a little, but she was always at william’s beck and call; that was her priority.
just wanted to clarify because for both women, their work was overly inflated to make them look better than their ‘careers’ suggested.
Thanks to Feminegra, Carmella, Unabashed Limburger for setting the record straight and exposing the shaddy past and fictional work history.
The ruthlessness of this otherwise unaccomplished woman who skillfully latched on to men of wealth, power, influence, social connections, is noteworthy.
Notably, she played the long waiting game,
maintaining sharp focus and dogged pursuit of wealth, social status elevation etcetera.
Cunningly manoeuvred herself into pole position, to the prize of being crowned Queen Consort to the next King of Britain.
Hooray to the future throne 🤡🤡
It is my thought that William is the culprit in all these royal shenanigans. Camilla’s prescience warned that Kate was not an appropriate wife for the future king and he knew when he broke with Kate and fervently chased a member of the British aristocracy: Isabella Calthorpe, the daughter of banking heiress Lady Mary Gaye Curzon and John Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe, friends of the RF. William was said to be besotted by her but she turned him down. His royal weakness then meekly returned to Kate and fell for her siren love call, helped by a see through dress. I believe a sweet and spirited working-class girl set out to write a fairy tale and ended up with a horror story they both now deeply regret but are bound to by circumstances that do not bode well for either of them or the monarchy.