In case you didn’t notice, the royals are back to their regularly scheduled programming, and that means an endless amount of sugary embiggening for the Duchess of Cambridge in particular. Prince William and Kate celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary on April 29th, and before Prince Philip passed away, the Keens were set to spend the entire month on their Future King and Future Queen embiggening project. We’re back to that, and they’ve even added Kate’s keen performance at Philip’s funeral as further evidence of Kate’s future-queen vibes. The thing is, the way they keep going on and on about the way Kate behaved at the funeral, it does feel like Kate is just exploiting another dead person, much like she did with Sarah Everard.

Kate Middleton is set to ‘step up’ and ‘take on the role of future Queen’ following the death of Prince Philip, a royal expert has claimed. Speaking exclusively to FEMAIL, royal biographer Phil Dampier said Kate is ‘maturing rapidly in her role’ as she approaches her 10 year anniversary of marrying Prince William and becoming a royal.

The Duchess of Cambridge, 39, is said to have played peacemaker between Prince William and Harry at the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral last week, because ‘like the Queen she doesn’t hold grudges or seek revenge’.

‘At Prince Philip’s funeral Kate really came of age,’ Phil told FEMAIL. ‘She comforted Prince Charles with an affectionate kiss and hug, brought William and Harry together, and very much gave a quiet dignity to proceedings. She reportedly took part in a chat at Frogmore Cottage, along with Charles and William, to heal the wounds with Harry. That must have been hard after what Harry and Meghan said about her in the Oprah Winfrey interview, but Kate is maturing rapidly and wants to do what’s best for the royal family.’

Following the loss, Phil said that the royal is set to take on more responsibility within the firm. ‘She has picked up many of the Queen’s qualities of tolerance and pragmatism, not overreacting to situations but trying to decide what is best in the long run,’ he said. ‘Like the Queen she doesn’t hold grudges or seek revenge. Kate realises that the Queen needs her and William more than ever and she will do all she can to support her,’ he added.

Phil also explained that the royal is likely to take on a bigger role as the Queen, Charles, Camilla and Anne age. ‘I expect to see her alongside the Queen on public engagements in future, as well as other members of the family. ‘With the Queen now 95, Charles, Camilla and Anne in their seventies, a lot is resting on William and Kate. They have enjoyed long periods of family life in Norfolk, trying to give their children the most normal upbringing as possible. But now they will have to step up to the plate as a future king and queen and Kate looks ready to play her part.’

[From The Daily Mail]

“They have enjoyed long periods of family life in Norfolk…But now they will have to step up to the plate…” Ruh-roh. The embiggeners giveth and the embiggeners taketh away. Someone is going to be incandescent with the suggestion that he and Kate need to step up and do more! And that’s all that will happen too – there will be calls for Will and Kate to do more, Baldemort will fly into a rage and nothing will happen. Rinse and repeat. I would “worry” about the fate of the monarchy with the Keens in charge, except they are both too lazy to really do much.

Also, this is like the third time a royal commentator has used the word “revenge” re: Kate’s behavior at the funeral. It’s always “Kate could have sought revenge but she didn’t, which makes her a true future queen.” And I just have to ask a few things about that. One, what kind of revenge would Kate have sought AT A FUNERAL? Was she fighting the urge to trip Harry during the funeral procession? The idea that “revenge” keeps coming up in these stories makes me feel like this is a new Keen narrative, that Kate in particular is so special and she wants credit for not being a petty, punitive, vengeful a–hole. When… she IS a petty, punitive, vengeful a–hole. So is William. The Keens are telling on themselves, and the royal commentators are telling on ‘em too.

Photos courtesy of WENN.