Kate and William appear to have been more proactive than many other royals in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. This month, Kate revealed the results of her project, ‘Hold Still’, which featured 100 portraits taken from people up and down the country during lockdown. It was an emotional tribute to how the public coped during a period of immense strain and royal fans met the project with delight.
Kate was also announced as the joint president of the Scouts this week, after years of working with the association behind the scenes.
William recently revealed that he invited cameras to follow him for two years to document his environmental efforts, which would give the public new insight into the royal’s charitable work.
The results are to be shown in a 90-minute special to be aired next week.
In the trailer, he acknowledged: “I feel it is my duty and our collective responsibility to leave our planet in a stronger position for our children.”
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have clearly stepped into the increased responsibility with the knowledge that they will one day be at the top of the hierarchy, as King and Queen.
Journalist Elise Taylor noted that this change has come about in recent months, especially since “March 2020 was a rocky time for the Royal Family, to say the least”.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle completed their final royal engagements — which reportedly showed the strain between the Firm’s members — and moved to the West Coast that month.
Prince Charles was diagnosed with coronavirus shortly afterwards, leaving royal fans fearing for his health.
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The family was seen on BBC’s ‘Big Night In’ hosted by Children in Need and Comic Relief clapping for the health service, playing with William for his birthday and a sweet photograph of the Duke with Charles was released for Father’s Day.
Kate was also honest about the difficulties she faced during the lockdown.
She said homeschooling her children was “a challenge” and that she had ignored any Easter break so they could keep to schedule.
Back in April, the Cambridges also took on the social media manager who used to work with the Sussexes, which marked another change in their approach to their royal roles.
Meghan and Harry’s account had exploded onto Instagram when they first launched it, and was at one time the fastest growing on the social media site.
By taking on their manager, Kate and William have started to replicate their style of more informal photographs — and their account has quickly accumulated more followers.
Writing in Vogue, Ms Taylor pointed out: “Slowly, but surely, the couple and transitively, Kate, have been compounding an incredibly valuable currency: invested followers, the 2020 version of loyal subjects.”
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The Cambridges’ rise has happened just as the Queen was already withdrawing from certain elements of public life, at 94.
This has been accelerated by the pandemic and, although she has shown no indication that she may retire, she is not expected to move back into Buckingham Palace full-time for a while for her own safety.
While Charles has recovered from coronavirus and just completed a whistle stop tour of Northern Ireland with Camilla Parker Bowles, it is still Kate and William who are more popular with the royal fanbase.
According to a recent YouGov poll, Kate has 65 percent of the public support making her the second most popular royal after the Queen.
William is one step behind his wife, also with 65 percent of Britain backing him.
