Kate (36 page)

These visits were kept out of the media. The Palace wanted to give Kate time to think about the charities before making an announcement in the new year. The public had barely seen the royal couple since their return from Canada, and their official engagements were deliberately few and far between. In Diana's first year of being a royal wife, she carried out hundreds of official duties, but since her wedding, Kate had undertaken fewer than fifty. There were unkind references to her in the press about her being “the Duchess of Dolittle,” but she ignored the taunts and instead focused on making the right choices about the organizations she was investigating. She had decided she would only take on a handful of causes to begin with so she could be closely involved rather than spreading herself too thin. In September, William and Kate visited The Royal Marsden's new cancer treatment center in Surrey and hosted a reception for their joint charitable foundation at St. James's Palace. Then in October, while William was busy working shifts, Kate stood in for the Prince of Wales at a charity dinner at Clarence House, which was deemed to be a great success. The following month, she and William flew to Copenhagen for their very first joint humanitarian mission, a visit to a UNICEF relief depot where food supplies for the famine-stricken east coast of Africa were being packed. It was a part of the world they both loved and knew well, so when the Crown Prince and Princess of Denmark, who had been at their wedding, invited them to join them to pack aid relief for hungry families, they made themselves available. Kate caused a flurry of speculation that she might be pregnant after she
repeatedly patted her tummy, which was hidden beneath an oversized coat during the trip to Copenhagen, and declined to try some peanut butter while she and William packed aid supplies.

The matter of a royal bump was a much-discussed topic and was even the subject of new legislation in the Houses of Parliament, where the rules of succession were in the process of being revised. Prime Minister David Cameron had proposed a change to the antiquated succession laws at the biannual meeting of Commonwealth heads in Perth in October, and the revision had been universally approved, although it still needed to be passed in the Houses of Parliament and made law by the Commonwealth realms. Essentially, the new law would mean that if the couple's firstborn was a girl, she would become Queen regardless of any male heirs born afterward. Previous governments had tried to implement the change of law, but the proposed amendments—which also prohibit any heir to the throne from marrying a Catholic—had never been passed. Now there was a real reason for change, and with the backing of the government, the Queen, and the Commonwealth, it looked set to happen, and William and Kate were the catalyst. “Put simply, if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were to have a little girl, that girl would one day be Queen,” said Mr. Cameron. The revision would also mean that the law preventing members of the royal family from marrying Catholics, in order to preserve the Church of England, would be scrapped. There was every chance that Kate could be writing royal history once again.

As 2011 came to a close, Kate prepared for her first Christmas at Sandringham, flitting between excitement and panic. Although she was more comfortable now in the presence of
royals, the festive period would be a challenging new situation. Camilla and Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, had volunteered themselves as mentors to Kate and were extremely useful in advising her on how to behave, how to dress, and what she should and should not do at court. Sophie, especially, was able to relate to Kate; although she came from a noble lineage, she was a career girl before she married Prince Edward, and like Kate, she was a modern royal bride. She and Edward had courted for six years before their wedding in 1999. It had given Sophie, a public relations expert, an opportunity to adapt to royal life. During that time, the Queen had taken an immediate liking to her new daughter-in-law and asked her to assist Kate. The Queen by now had gotten to know her granddaughter-in-law better. They had carried out their first engagement together that summer when they viewed Kate's wedding dress on display at Buckingham Palace following the royal wedding. The Queen had declared the exhibit “horrible” because of the eerie way the dress was modeled on a suspended mannequin, but Kate had taken no offense. The two women had met privately on a number of other occasions, and anticipating that Christmas might be an intimidating experience for the newest member of her family, the Queen had asked her private office to update a court manual known as the Order of Precedence in the Royal Household.

The book, essentially a guide for new recruits on how to behave in the presence of the royal family, was most useful to Kate, even if it was rather confusing. It had last been updated when Camilla married into the family, and it offered detailed instructions on who Kate was expected to curtsy to, both in private and public, when she was with William, and when she was alone. It gave advice on the royal pecking order, and who
should be the first and last to arrive at events such as Trooping the Colour and Royal Ascot. Kate knew from her training with David Manning that she was always required to curtsy to the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, and Camilla, whether or not she was with William. According to the court rule book, when Kate was not with William, she was still expected to curtsy to blood Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, Princess Anne, and the Queen's elderly cousin, Princess Alexandra. Somewhat uncomfortably, Sophie Wessex and less senior members of the family were now expected to curtsy to Kate, who, as William's wife and a future Queen, was further up the order of precedence. Although it may seem rather archaic, according to courtiers, the order of precedence is important so that the Queen is not overwhelmed by her family when it comes to greeting them all at once, and to ensure there is no confusion at public engagements.

There was advice on what to expect at Sandringham; the family is instructed to arrive according to precedence on Christmas Eve and the Crown equerry issues a timetable detailing who should arrive when. The least senior members of the family—cousins and extended family members—are expected first, whereas Prince Charles, as heir, is the last to arrive shortly before lunchtime. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh always travel by train from King's Cross to King's Lynn. Although a private family occasion, Christmas is a formal affair at Sandringham, and Kate was told that she had to have up to five outfit changes a day. She was advised to pack full-length evening gowns and jewels for dinner. At home, the Middletons opened stockings in their pajamas, but there would be no lounging around at Sandringham, where one was expected to be properly attired for breakfast, lunch, tea, and
dinner. Every family member was assigned either a butler or a maid, whom they were expected to tip at the end of the stay. Kate had been looking forward to shooting but was told that in the presence of the Queen, a lady does not take a gun, so instead she would have to stay with the beaters, whose job is to flush the birds from the thicket into the direction of the guns. Each evening, there would be a cocktail party before dinner, which would be served at 8:15
P.M
. sharp. According to Lady Elizabeth Anson, “In the morning you are dressed for breakfast, then you change for shooting. You come back to the house and change for tea at about 5:30
P.M
. into a wool dress or a suit with a skirt. In the really old days there were tea gowns, which were like long velvet dressing gowns. . . . Then you come down for drinks, still in your tea dress. It is before this that the Queen takes a bath and does her face, so her change for dinner is usually quick—the point is not to get caught out and think you have lots of time to change before dinner. The Duchess of Cornwall and the Countess of Wessex were there to give Kate advice, and she wouldn't have had to worry about pressing her clothes. She would have had a maid who would have laid her clothes out and chosen her dress for the night.”

Kate had put much thought into both her clothes and presents for her first Windsor-family Christmas, deciding that her jars of homemade preserves would be perfect gifts. Joke presents always went down well, and she reportedly bought Prince Harry a “grow your own girlfriend” kit. William had explained that the family exchanged only small offerings and the Queen was always the first to open gifts, which were lined up on a trestle table in the Red Drawing Room and opened on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas
Day, which the Queen believes should be an entirely religious day. Diana had embarrassed herself when, at her first family Christmas, she handed out expensive gifts, such as cashmere sweaters, which were considered ostentatious.

Kate was in church on Christmas morning along with the rest of the family, where prayers were said for the Duke of Edinburgh, who had been taken ill on the night before Christmas Eve and airlifted to a hospital after suffering chest pains. A crowd of nearly 3,000 people gathered outside St. Mary Magdalene Church on the Sandringham estate, numbers that had not been seen for many years. Certainly, the gathering of glamorous young royals made it an attractive and colorful spectacle. Kate had opted for a plum hat by milliner Jane Corbett and a coat in the same color. Princess Beatrice, who had caused a sensation at the royal wedding with her choice of garish headware, had opted for a subtle black pillbox, while newlywed Zara Phillips showed that she could keep up with Kate in the fashion stakes with an eye-catching ruched designer hat. Flanked by William and Harry, Kate wished the crowds a Merry Christmas before they headed back to the main house for a lunch of traditional turkey, cold meats, and all the trimmings, served on silver salvers. It was all very different from the relaxed Christmases at home with her father dressing up and James pulling out the Christmas puzzle. This year, Kate watched the Queen's speech with the monarch.

It must have been a surreal close to a formidable year. An ordinary girl from a very normal family, Kate was now seen as the rising star of the royal family. It was a daunting but exciting prospect. There was a part of her that deeply missed being with her own family. She was particularly sad not to be with her sister, who was heartbroken after having recently split up
with her boyfriend, Alex Loudon. The former Etonian had ended the year-and-half-long romance, and Pippa's new celebrity status was rumored to be at the root of the split. She had become a global superstar following the royal wedding, and offers for interviews, modeling contracts, and book deals had come flooding in. Pippa edited an online magazine for Party Pieces and still worked part-time for an events company in London, and now she was working on her first book, having signed a six-figure publishing book deal just before Christmas. She graced magazine covers and was sent free designer clothes and handbags. But there was a downside to her new fame. Like her sister, Pippa couldn't buy a coffee or go shopping without being photographed. For Alex, who came from a very private aristocratic family, it was too much. Kate felt a measure of responsibility, as she knew that everyone in her family was in a vulnerable position now that she had become Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Cambridge.

For Michael and Carole, it had been a slightly easier transition. They were able to live in relative peace at their home in Bucklebury, protected by the local community. “We tend to know when Catherine's in the village, because we see the protection officers and they often come in for a cup of tea,” said Martin Fiddler. “It's lovely that William and Catherine still come here. We often see them and the family walking—we give them a wave and let them get on with their lives.” William had kept his promise that they would not be left out in the cold, and earlier that same year, Kate's parents had been invited to Royal Ascot at the personal invitation of the Queen. They enjoyed lunch at Windsor Castle and arrived at the world-famous racecourse in the royal procession by horse-drawn carriage. Watching from the comfort of the Royal Box,
they happily chatted with Princess Beatrice and Princess Anne and, as avid horse-racing fans and part owners of a racehorse named Sohraab, they spoke knowledgeably about the sport that the Queen has always loved. It meant a lot to Kate that so much effort was being made to include her family.

In January 2012, she chose to celebrate her thirtieth birthday at the family home, where Pippa and Carole had organized a special supper. William had already given Kate her present, a delightful black cocker spaniel from a litter of pups belonging to James's dog, Ella. Kate named him Lupo, the Italian word for wolf. The Middletons are wildlife enthusiasts and are friends with a local villager who runs a wolf protection charity in Berkshire.

It was deemed the perfect opportunity to announce she would be taking on working roles with the National Portrait Gallery, The Art Room, East Anglia's Children's Hospices, and Action on Addiction. She had also decided to work with the Scout Association. As a former Brownie and someone who loves camping and the outdoors, she was said to be particularly excited about this commitment. According to the Palace, she wanted to be actively involved and would spend the coming weeks visiting her chosen causes. The fact that her diary was so busy was a blessing. William was leaving for the Falklands for a six-week-long tour of duty at the start of February, and Kate, who had been dreading the time apart, moved from Anglesey to Nottingham Cottage.

She was understandably nervous about going solo, in particular about giving her first public speech. Until now, she had always had William to guide and support her. Her first visit to the National Portrait Gallery to view an exhibition of Lucian Freud's work in early February was a gentle introduction
to her new life as a working royal. She used to visit the gallery as a student and being involved with its work was a dream come true. As she mingled with guests and commented on the exhibition, she seemed to be enjoying herself. As well as promoting the arts in London, Kate hoped to heighten the gallery's profile. The gallery had never had a patron before, and according to the director, Sandy Nairn, Kate's affiliation gave it a real platform. “The duchess opens us up to a wide range of people, some who might not know who we are. She is such a recognized public figure both in this country and abroad, having her as a patron is a very positive thing for us.”