Never Complain, Never Explain: How Kate Middleton Is Modeling Herself On Queen Elizabeth

Updated on August 03, 2022 18:47 PM by Ella Bina

Kate Middleton Prepares Her Future Role As Queen

As Kate Middleton prepares for her future role as Queen Consort, she's doing so with the best model available: the record-breaking monarch, 96-year-old Queen Elizabeth.

Observing what the Queen's biographer Sally Bedell Smith tells PEOPLE in this week's cover story, Catherine has learned. She knows what resonates. She will have absorbed a lot from this Queen.

Although they are separated in age by 56 years, the Queen and Kate share key qualifications for the job: quiet stoicism, unerring discretion, and firm loyalty.

Public Life Motto: Never Complain, Never Explain

Their opinions on contentious political issues are never heard; their commitment to the throne is unwavering, and their public images are tightly controlled. Kate also embodies the Queen's unofficial motto for public life: Never complain, never explain.

Not one to hand down explicit "lessons," it's unlikely the Queen has ever formally tutored Kate, insiders say. Instead, historian Sarah Gristwood says that the Queen may have approached her relationship with Kate the way she does with prime ministers.

The Queen has always preferred to do rather than say, says Elizabeth's author: Queen and Crown. With her audiences and prime ministers, if there has been actual advice, it would be a discreet 'I think that went rather well' rather than actual instruction.

Kate is also a modern woman who is nonetheless amenable to the centuries-old power structure of the family business, otherwise known as the "the firm."

It's a personal willingness to conform to the institution's requirements, says Gristwood. That sounds like an unappealing, unglamorous virtue, but it's important if you're going to be a successful cog in the royal wheel.

Kate has even been inspired by the Queen's style and regularly wears jewels on loan from the monarch. On royal outings, the Queen always wears bright colors so fans can spot her in a crowd, and Kate has followed suit.

A friend says that the Queen has this definitive style, almost like a uniform, which also works for Kate.

Prince Royal Duties

The Queen begins her summer holiday at Balmoral Castle in Scotland this week, two months after her 70 years on the throne were celebrated across the U.K. and the world. She's doing so confidently that Kate and her husband, Prince William, are ready for their royal duties in the months and years ahead.

They are representing the Queen impeccably, adds Bedell Smith. They're showing a kind of dedication she would be proud of. And that probably gives her hope.