Around the Princess of Wales’s birthday, we usually get these “state of Kate” pieces, where “sources” embiggen her meager accomplishments and make promises to be especially keen in the year to come. One year ago, there were promises to be keen in 2024, buzz of a trip to Italy and a general tamping down of expectations beyond that. Then came Kate’s abdominal surgery, then her months-long disappearance, and you know the rest. The lesson has been learned – no more keen promises for the year to come. Over the weekend, the Mail’s Rebecca English got a comprehensive briefing about how poor Kate will simply never go back to “work” in the same way – no more 90 events in a year, no more briefings about how Kate is a credible expert on the Early Years, no more expectations to see Kate more than once a month, if that. Well, do you need Ingrid Seward to lay it on thick?

It’s set to be a special week for the Princess of Wales, who turns 43 on Thursday. After spending the festive period with her family in Norfolk, her children – Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis – are preparing to return to school. This year’s birthday carries a deeper significance following the health challenges Kate has faced in what her husband the Prince of Wales recently described as a “brutal” year.

The royal couple will be keen to make the most of their family time while they can before William becomes King. However, with this change on the horizon, both William and Kate will be making sure they make the transition smooth for the sake of their young family.

“Kate knows there is a looming, massive responsibility coming, but she can’t do anything about that, so she just needs to make sure that the family she’s bringing up are able to deal with it,” says Ingrid Seward, whose book My Mother and I examines the relationship between the King and his mother.

“It must have been very difficult for her to deal with her family and her illness at the same time, and she obviously realises that the children have been through a hard time too. I think the illness has made her keen to prioritise her family even more, because they are the future. Obviously, she wants to support her husband and the monarchy, but she’s going to make sure that she does it in such a way that it doesn’t take her away from the family too much.

“She is very embedded in the future now, and the things that are really important in life, like her children and her charity work, really resonate and become even more important. Being so ill teaches you to enjoy each day as it comes, so I think she has a new appreciation of What’s going on around her, and what she can do to make life better for other people as well.”

[From Hello]

Because I’ve been writing about Kate and the Keen Machine around her for so many years, I feel I’m qualified to say that Kate has always had a bizarre perspective about her future roles. When she was the Duchess of Cambridge, she always positioned herself as “future queen” rather than “future Princess of Wales,” almost like she expected to leap-frog over Camilla when the time came. Alongside that positioning, the consistent message from Kate was that she would only “step up” when Queen Elizabeth died. QEII has been dead and buried for nearly two-and-a-half years and it’s been nothing but wheel-spinning and clownery. Now that she’s Princess of Wales and one gin-soaked mishap away from being queen, Kate still can’t commit to doing anything. Now it’s “She is very embedded in the future now” – meaning what? She sees her role as Princess of Wales and eventually queen consort as nothing more than child-rearing?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.