Maybe it’s Scorpio Season or maybe it’s the Mercury Retrograde, but I am feeling a very weird vibe around the royals and the royal media. It’s quite clear that British royal reporters are “mad” at the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and it’s quite clear that those same reporters and commentators are happy to do the most to embiggen the Duchess of Cambridge. But… it feels like everyone is either trying too hard or they’re just phoning it in. Like, everything just feels false? The “future queen Kate is perfect in every way” narrative is as obvious as it is mind-numbing. Same with the “Meghan does everything wrong and people loathe her” narrative. I’m just sort of throwing up my hands at this point. I tried to make it through this Richard Price piece at the Sun but it was too stupid too finish.

From her style overhaul to her new bronde highlights and easy confidence, Kate has completely transformed since bursting back on to the scene last October, following a six-month maternity leave (her longest yet) after the birth of Prince Louis in April. She even made her foray into social media by posting on Instagram from Pakistan. The beautiful, confident woman whose empathy charms everyone she meets is a world away from the gaucheness of yesteryear’s “Waity Katie”. And if onlookers struggle to put their finger on what has changed for Kate, that’s because the real change is on the inside.

“Like the finest of wines, she has taken years to mature to perfection, but the woman you see today has no peers on the global stage,” a well-placed royal source tells Fabulous. “What people are seeing now is a confident, driven woman with a purpose. For the first time in her life Kate knows where she is going and has the self-belief to get there under her own steam.”

Of course, she has plenty of support – not least from William, who is as bowled over by Kate today as he was when he first saw her striding down the catwalk in that see-through dress at the University of St Andrews. Nearly 20 years on, at 37 she still has an incredible figure, but now has the confidence to go with it. “Back then she was full of self-doubt, despite all her assets,” adds the source. “These days she’s a force to be reckoned with.”

The fact that even royal insiders are making complimentary comparisons to Diana speaks volumes about how far Kate has come. At a time when the royals have their share of troubles – with Harry and Meghan at war with the media and beleaguered Prince Andrew fighting for his reputation over his friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein – Kate is a breath of fresh air. It is hard to imagine this is the same woman who was once lambasted as a work-shy social climber, the lucky girl whose sole job in life was to sit around looking pretty until William proposed.

Sir Anthony Seldon, vice-chancellor of the University of Buckingham and political author, has praised the monarch-to-be for her “magical talent”. “Kate has that rare ability, possessed by very few people, of being able to talk and relate to those of different ages, backgrounds and ethnicities. It’s a magical talent that is infinitely precious and you either have it in life or you don’t. Most people don’t, but Kate does.”

[From The Sun]

All of the people who scream about comparing Meghan and Kate go suddenly quiet when Kate is held up as the ideal and Meghan is smeared in comparison, have you noticed that? And does Kate have peers on the global stage? Um, she has peers in her own f–king family, and yes, she does have peers on the global stage too. And it’s not a “magical talent” to simply talk to people at an event!! Jesus Christ. The Sun goes on to claim that the Queen is now a big Kate fan and that Kate is suddenly super-hard-working (she is not) and how the biggest change is her self-confidence, which… I agree. She’s been so much more confident over the past few years, which coincided with the Embiggening Campaign and…other things. Oh, but here’s an interesting little aside in the same piece:

Fortunately for Kate, her natural instinct is to be cautious and courteous. She has barely made a single misstep since first catching William’s eye at university. Which made it all the more surprising when stories leaked to the press of a rumoured rift with her friend and neighbour Rose Hanbury, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley. For a few weeks earlier this year, the aristocratic rumour mill went into overdrive. Yet rather than publicly complaining about being the subject of gossip and speculation, Kate did and said precisely nothing. And it worked. To this day little is known about what really happened between Kate, William and the Cholmondeleys, but the world has long since moved on.

[From The Sun]

Okay, I’ll give it to Kate there: she did do the “right thing” for a royal wife, which is “ignore the affair” and not speak about any of it publicly. Prince William did sh-t though, like get his lawyers to threaten and bully media outlets who were looking into his affair. And he also shoved Meghan under the bus at the same time to take the interest off his wandering sceptre. Which… is the same thing this article does.

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