2012 brings another year of Royal celebration as the Queen reaches the victorious milestone of her 60th year on the throne. The Diamond Jubilee is sure to bring another extended weekend of celebratory street parties, copious amounts of memorabilia (and perhaps alcoholic beverages…) and all things red, white and blue.
What I find quite surprising about the modern day monarchy but also somewhat heartfelt is the huge feeling of British pride surrounding recent Royal events. Last year saw immense celebration for Kate and Wills’ wedding, and at a time when things perhaps are not going quite so well for this country (I’m talking unemployment, recession and all that fun stuff…certainly not an ideal time to be leaving uni!), the overwhelming sense of unity and pride certainly came at the right time! In BBC1’s three part television show ‘The Diamond Jubilee’, Andrew Marr described the Monarchy as ‘one of the oldest and grandest of all,’ and added that ‘opinion polls show with remarkable consistency that the British like this idea.’ Although attitudes towards the Royal Family have changed over the years, these current Royal events really show how much we still love our Royals. Harry in particular…but that’s another story.
So, as it is the year of the Diamond Jubilee and not far from an entire year since the wedding, it makes me wonder just how Kate Middleton made the dramatic transition from being a normal girl (albeit a fairly privileged girl) to Her Royal Highness Princess William, Duchess of Cambridge, Countess of Strathearn, Baroness of Carrickfergus. The title says it all! Making the decision as a young 17 year old school student to apply for and accept an offer from Scotland’s St. Andrews University to study History of Art certainly gave her a lot more than a 2:1 degree! How many of us can say we will be graduating this summer whilst on the arm of a future king?! The only girl that came close to living the life of Kate was Prince Harry’s ex-girlfriend Chelsea Davy, a past Leeds University student I must add. See, there’s still hope! Although I somehow can’t quite imagine a future Royal to have spent 3 years or so of her life living in the wondrous Hyde Park…Oh well…
Although we may initially think that the life of a princess is all ball gowns, tiaras and being whisked away by our prince on magic carpets to be shown a whole new world and all the dazzling places that we never knew, ahem, I think there is a tad more to it. Kate is always photographed with a beautiful smile on her face, appearing calm and collected in her whole new world, but do we all genuinely want to be in her position? Let’s take a look at two important things in a girls’ life and see…
Relationships
There is no doubt that Kate and Wills seem to have a perfectly happy and healthy relationship. They have just had the most extravagant wedding and celebration of the year (and the year before, and the year before, and the year before…you get my drift) and have set up home in a beautiful farmhouse in Anglesey. With a newly purchased puppy and rumours of children not too far from the horizon things seem to be going according to plan. One thing perhaps not so typical of married life though is spending long periods of time away from your partner, something which the couple are currently experiencing and are sure to experience many more times in the future. I asked a few friends what they thought were the most important things necessary to maintain a relationship and they all mentioned that spending enough quality time together was key. Whilst Kate may have taken the opportunity to use Wills’ six week deployment to the Falkland Islands as the time to make her mark as a working member of the Royal Family in her own right, frequent separation may take its toll in the future.
Fashion
Kate has become a huge style icon since being in the public eye and is always pictured in magazines looking glamorous. The Duchess Effect is a term that has come to describe anything Kate wears that goes on to sell out globally within hours; quite an achievement! Arguably the most renowned example of the Duchess Effect was the dress she wore on the announcement of the couple’s engagement. Thousands of people flocked to buy the£475 navy blue Issa dress, perhaps in the hope that it could act as their lucky charm to follow in Kate’s footsteps! The most appealing thing about her style is that she favours high street labels as well as designer labels. Topshop, Reiss and Zara are particular favourites which makes the princess dream seem even more attainable!There is however a downside. The frequent photographing of Kate due to her being a style icon, as well as being a member of the Royal Family, has also shown the public her quite dramatic weight loss over the last year or so. After the engagement announcement Kate appeared thinner and thinner in successive appearances spurring speculation that she was under a lot of stress, which is not surprising.
Although there may be some trials and tribulations attached to the life of a new Royal, the expectations of a member of the Royal family seem to have changed with the times. We enjoy the fact that we can see Wills and Kate as normal and human, and of course Harry helps this by being frequently papped on a night out. It must have been a terrifyingly exciting and crazy year for Kate Middleton but I think she has proved herself to be an amazingly suitable member of the Royal Family, bringing a fresh, modernised view of the monarchy.
All that’s left now is the fight over Prince Harry! Any takers…?!