Kate Middleton’s All About ‘Playing the Long Game,’ Expert ‘Not Surprised’ She Defended the Royal Family Against Harry and Meghan
Kate Middleton might be going about her life attending polo matches and sitting courtside at Wimbledon. However, according to an expert, the Princess of Wales is “always” thinking about what’s ahead. Even in how she reportedly helped get a line included in a statement after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle “trashed” the royal family in their 2021 Oprah interview.
Kate Middleton’s ‘soft power’ is comparable to that of the Queen Mother
Taking after the late Queen Mother, Kate expertly wields “soft power,” royal expert Jennie Bond told OK! Magazine.
“People always used to describe the Queen Mother as ‘steel in a velvet glove,’” Bond said. “She was always charming, gentle, and much admired. But, she was also the strength behind her husband, George Vl, and, at the Palace, her opinion counted.”
“I think Catherine has some of those same qualities,” the commentator continued. Kate’s “learned the craft of being royal over a number of years and earned her place as a senior member of the family.”
“Gradually,” Bond explained, “she has also earned the respect of the public and, I believe, of the rest of the family. We look at her now not just as William’s wife, but as our future Queen.”
Kate wasn’t going ‘to stand by’ while Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ‘trashed’ the royal family’s reputation
As for Valentine Low’s claim in his updated Courtiers book that Kate played a role in getting the “recollections may vary” line added to the statement regarding the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Oprah interview, Bond shared she was “not surprised.”
Kate, she said, has “earned her place” in the royal family. “[She] knew that the family’s reputation was on the line. And, along with William, she wasn’t prepared simply to stand by and let that reputation be trashed.”
“I think people will admire her for resisting the age-old strategy of ignoring criticism, however damaging it can be,” Bond added. Kate’s “playing the long game. She has always kept her eye on, ‘This is my life and my historic path, and I am going to be Queen one day.’”
Kate wanted ‘recollections may vary’ line included in the palace’s statement about Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interview
More evidence of Kate’s “long game” vision goes back to March 2021 and the Oprah interview. Perhaps the most bombshell claim to come out of Courtiers latest release is Kate — and William — advocated including the “recollections may vary” line in the palace’s statement. Buckingham Palace issued a brief response to Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interview after both the U.S. and U.K. broadcasts.
Initially, Low claimed, the palace crafted a “milder statement.” But Kate and William weren’t happy with it. Instead, they wanted it to be “toughened up,” with Kate supporting the “recollections may vary” line.
Low wrote: “It was Kate [who] clearly made the point, ‘History will judge this statement and unless this phrase or a phrase like it is included, everything that they have said will be taken as true.’”
