Kate admitted to a blunder in her early royal engagements (Image: PA)
Princess Kate has admitted that royal engagements took some getting used to and that one habit she had initially was a bit of a blunder that she ‘learned to change’
When Prince William and Kate met at the University of St. Andrews they were friends before things became romantic between them later. They dated for many years, and despite a brief break up, they finally settled down in 2010 when it was announced that the pair were engaged.
During her long relationship with William, Kate learned a lot about the spotlight that comes along with the Royal Family, but she was still a private individual – and the duties that would come with her official royal role still needed some getting used to. After her marriage, she was gradually eased into public life, and given the opportunity to slowly learn the ropes, and as her family grew, the space to take care of her children.
Speaking in a documentary to mark the late Queen’s 90th birthday, Kate admitted that she had found royal engagements took some getting used to, and even the most innocuous things you wouldn’t think about in normal life needed some adjustments in that more formal setting.
Kate explained that during her earliest engagements, she would often get carried away chatting to someone without keeping an eye on the time, and her enthusiasm to speak to everyone even became a bit of an inside joke within the House of Windsor.
“I think there is a real art to walkabouts, everyone teases me in the family that I spend far too long chatting so I think I’ve still got to learn a little bit more and pick up a few more tips I suppose,” Kate explained, also noting that when she had to attend one of her first engagements without her husband William, she was pleased that the late Queen came along with her to show her the ropes.
“She was very supportive. The fact she took the time to make sure that I was happy and looked after for that particular occasion, which probably in everything that she’s doing is a very small element, which just shows how caring she is, really,” Kate said.
More recently, William was spotted signaling to his wife to wrap up her conversation whilst the couple were at a high-profile royal wedding in Jordan and were chatting with the bride and groom. The incident was caught on camera and might indicate that Kate’s love of a good chinwag is still going strong today – given Kate lived in Jordan as a child, it’s likely she had much to say to newlyweds Crown Prince Al Hussein of Jordan and Princess Rajwa.
