Duchess of Cambridge: What Now for Catherine? Future Duties, Roles, Responsibilities


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Catherine never appears to mind any duty she does but goes about them good-natured. So she doesn't come off as someone who is workshy or lazy. Those people can't cover their true attitude when they are forced to do things they detest.
 
Charles is pulling the purse strings here. If he wanted Kate to be doing more, he could make it happen. On the contrary, Charles seems very happy with Kate. It suits him for W&K to only be part-time royals, as he'll know as soon as that changes Charles is going to be sidelined in the press.
I agree with most of your post bar this part. It's pretty hard for Charles to be sidelined more than he already is: the press doesn't pay attention to his many charities and only reports controversies. Kate could have been making 1,000 engagements a year, and that would hardly reflect upon Charles in any way.
 
Well, I think William & Catherine and Harry are very mindful of Charles's role as the future King but I think Charles knows and accepts that his children and daughter-in-law are adults and ready to take on more important roles within the "Firm". I think he's very supportive of the fact that the Cambridges & Prince Harry are setting up their own court at Kensington Palace and he is funding a lot of their expenses. So I really don't think Charles is too worried about being upstaged by his sons and daughter-in-law. I think he's delighted that they are taking on some responsibilities of the Monarchy.
 
I also think a major change is under way. It was already announced that Catherine would announce additional patronages by the end of the year. William's current tour with the RAF will end in mid 2013 and their new apartment in Kensington Palace will be ready in 2013. William must make a decision about a new tour of duty by the end of the year. He also told a reporter he was finding it difficult to balance his RAF and royal duties. I think these are all clues to the future. I hope there is a baby announcement by Christmas.
 
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While being primarily a mother and wife is not currently in vogue, as wife of a future king, Catherine's duty and role is first and foremost to produce children. The British monarchy is a thousand years old, give or take a few years, and this has been the role of the wife of the king during all of that time - it may not be modern, but it is the history of the institution.
Charles is the next King, he is by definition more important at this point in time than William and Catherine. It is a delicate balancing act to shine some light on the Cambridges without casting Charles into the shade. Fortunately there seems to be genuine fondness between Catherine and both of her in laws.
Imagine that one of us married into a family with a business - would we expect to start doing everything all at once in the business, or would we do as we are asked to in the beginning? If we expect to get along, we'd do what we were asked rather than rocking the boat, IMO.
Catherine's willingness to work very hard was on display while William was in the Falklands, she made a number of appearances with her in laws and alone in his absence.
When William is home in Wales, like any newly wed, she wants to be home with him. Having a supportive helpmate is invaluable to a King or Queen, it is a very isolating position. Consider how important the Queen mum was to George VI, how important Phillip is to Elizabeth II, and how much happier and at ease Charles is with Camilla as his wife. The royal family undoubtedly understand more than we can guess that William and Catherine are best served by having time to forge their union.
In the meantime, Catherine does volunteer w/ her local scouts and is patron of four charities. She accompanies William in his appearances for his Royal work. She is also involved in making their new apartment in Kensington Palace ready. She completed the tour of Canada and is now embarking on a longer tour.
I have never considered Catherine to be work shy or lazy, to me she is simply discreet and respectful of her husband's family's desires regarding how they are integrating her into their centuries old institution.
 
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Please note that off topic posts about potential Cambridge children have been deleted AGAIN.
 
This tour is shorter.

Thanks for the correction, I hadn't looked back at the length of the Canada/USA tour, just reading all of the events in this current tour it seemed exhausting to me, so I must have mentally 'felt' it was longer.
 
Rosana, again you astonish me with your way to count things. Where do the 4 engagements come from?

Even those few that come to mind immediately: Fortnum & Mason, Jubilee Pageant, Jubilee Concert, Trooping the Colours, Olympic Opening and Closing ceremonies, Visits to hospitals, meeting with queen and Philip somewhere north... are a bit more than that. Plus the upcoming State Visit...

I accept that you don't like either William or Catherin nd believe them to be lazy. But couldn't you at least get the facts straight? For it makes it really difficult not to point out that that's not the whole truth and thus your opinion could be flawed, even though it is a honest opinion to be accepted?


You are right, they were not 4 but 10!!! You can go through the current events thread and check as I did: Feb 2 was the first one (I didnt write down the name), National Gallery, Liverpool, Fortnum & Mason, Oxford College, Olympic Park, Irish Guard, 1 Speech in hospice, Scouts, Royal Academy of Arts. Then I think she was in Denmark with William, let´s say she attended a couple more (I can admit the Olimpic ceremonies, not the Jubille sorry, royalty celebrates itself and I should consider that as an engagement? no way).
The girl has done around 12/14 engagements in 9 months, amazing! No wonder they take so many holidays.

And no, I´m not comparing her with Maxima, how could I? Maxima can deliver a speech on microcredit in 2 different languages other than hers for about 15 minutes, and she´s the Crown Princess.:flowers:
 
You are right, they were not 4 but 10!!! You can go through the current events thread and check as I did: Feb 2 was the first one (I didnt write down the name), National Gallery, Liverpool, Fortnum & Mason, Oxford College, Olympic Park, Irish Guard, 1 Speech in hospice, Scouts, Royal Academy of Arts. Then I think she was in Denmark with William, let´s say she attended a couple more (I can admit the Olimpic ceremonies, not the Jubille sorry, royalty celebrates itself and I should consider that as an engagement? no way).
The girl has done around 12/14 engagements in 9 months, amazing! No wonder they take so many holidays.

And no, I´m not comparing her with Maxima, how could I? Maxima can deliver a speech on microcredit in 2 different languages other than hers for about 15 minutes, and she´s the Crown Princess.:flowers:

And Maxima has been a Crown Princess for A LOT longer than Catherine has been in her position (and as we pointed out to you before, Catherine's the wife of the monarch's grandson, so there's no hurry for her to be in the spotlight as much as let's say Maxima, Mary, Mette-Marit, Victoria, etc.). I bet that after Catherine has been a royal for a few years, she'll be able to deliver a speech as well as anyone else in her role (and in my opinion, for someone who just came into her role [and a year and a half is really not that much time], she's doing pretty darn well with her public speaking). And yes, Jubilee celebrations were indeed official engagements, as was Trooping the Colour (Her Majesty's Birthday Parade), so they sure as heck should be counted. They're not celebrating themselves, but the amount of service, dedication, and work Her Majesty has given to her realm at home and abroad for the past sixty years, so let's get our facts straight, eh?
 
According to the lists that Iluvbertie posts in the royal engagements thread, Kate has done 73 engagements this year. Iluvbertie uses the CC to compile the lists, so obviously the Palace thinks things like Trooping and Jubilee count as engagements.
 
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I am quite impressed by how shes handling herself generally. The palace seems to be happy with her performance, as well. She is on the right path.
 
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I am quite impressed by how shes handling herself generally. The palace seems to be happy with her performance, as well. She is on the right path.

It's not just the Palace that's happy with her performance, but also those that meet her can't help but be charmed. Though the opinion of the Palace is extremely important, the reaction of the public should not be taken lightly (and I have a feeling it's valued rather highly), because it's the public that is going to be her future subjects, and if they're happy with her (along with the Palace), then she's doing everyone very, very proud. United Kingdom is very lucky to have her as their future Queen Consort.
 
Well said Daria. I agree with you. So long as she can build a trust with people and show that she cares and handles herself the way she has been, she will be an awesome Queen. The Palace is important but I think the people are up there as well. They will be her future.
 
So this 12 engagements in 9 MOS bull crap just got multiplied by 5 or 6 right?
 
I wonder when the palace will announce the regiments The Duchess of Cambridge will become Honorary Royal Colonel, Royal Colonel, Colonel-in-Chief or Honorary Air Commodore? I'm hoping since Ctherine is the future Princess of Wales that she Will become Colonel-in-Chief of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment. A role she would share with Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and since the regiment haven't had a British Royal Colonel since 1996.
 
I wonder when the palace will announce the regiments The Duchess of Cambridge will become Honorary Royal Colonel, Royal Colonel, Colonel-in-Chief or Honorary Air Commodore? I'm hoping since Ctherine is the future Princess of Wales that she Will become Colonel-in-Chief of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment. A role she would share with Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and since the regiment haven't had a British Royal Colonel since 1996.

TBH I don't think it would be announced before Kate is actually the Princess of Wales as there is a Princess of Wales holding the title at the moment... she just doesn't style herself that way. :D
 
With the expansion of the Cambridges and Harry's household (all them each getting a private secretary and moving the household from St James to Kensington Palace) and the ill health and age of the Queen and DoE, it would not suprise me to see William leave the RAF at the end of contract in mid 2013. Once out of the military, both William and Kate would be full time royals.

Prince Charles is colonel of the Welsh guards, so when William becomes PoW, he can move to the Welsh guard and Kate can take the Irish since they have a relationship with each other ? I just love the dog getting the shamrock on his collar on St Patrick's Day.
 
Well I'm sure she will be appointed to some regiments before then but I do expect Catherine to hand out leaks to the Irish Guards from now on, since William is now it's Royal Colonel.
 
Its leaks for the Welsh Guards and Shamrocks for the Irish Guards.
 
I remember Charles once said that Diana was the most beautiful Royal Colonel he had ever seen. I'm sure Catherine will also make a very beautiful royal colonel. I'm think perhaps this year or the next her regimental appointments will be announced.
 
After this pictures Kate should realize that the Middelton years are over and she is now Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge without NO privacy anymore.
 
...Kate as the wife should NEVER be expected to do more royal duties than her royal spouse. The fact that last year she outperformed William should be enough to quiet the anti-Kate faction but the silly comparison continues.
Exactly. William and Harry have never done more than 90 engagements a year, so it seems a bit silly to expect Kate to immediately take on 300 engagements. Now if William starts doing full-time royal duties and Kate doesn't, then I'll understand the complaints. As of now, they are part-time working royals and I don't expect them to have the numbers that the Queen, Prince Philip and their children do.

Kate has done 24 - hardly close to full-time and really for a woman who doesn't have another job she really hasn't done much at all.
It's true that her numbers are low right now, but she does have a few engagements coming up next month and I imagine she'll do some engagements after her maternity leave ends. So I don't think her numbers will stay low. Plus, she did do more engagements than William or Harry in 2012 (in 2011 she did more than Harry but less than William).

...when William and Catherine got married it was said that Catherine would be eased into taking on more duties.
Yep. I'm glad the BRF has learned from the past and is allowing the wives to be eased into their roles. For instance, Sophie didn't start off doing 300 engagements. She did between 120 -205 engagements a year (until last year). I imagine that helped her feel more comfortable and less overwhelmed with her role, which I think is really important for any new royals marrying into the BRF.

I think after the baby is born, Kate and William will start taking on a bigger role. I don't see them staying part-time working royals for much longer.
 
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......Kate as the wife should NEVER be expected to do more royal duties than her royal spouse. The fact that last year she outperformed William should be enough to quiet the anti-Kate faction but the silly comparison continues.

Sorry, I disagree. The reason William and Harry perform a reduced number of official duties is because they both have fulltime jobs in the military. Kate has no job and so there's no reason at all why she could not be doing more.

I appreciate we do not see what goes on behaind the scenes but we are now 20 weeks into the year and Kate has performed approximately 24 engagements (according to Iluvberties figures based on the CC) - about one a week. Nobody wants to see what happened to Diana repeated but it seems to have gone from one extreme to the other.
 
I think everyone should calm down. The Duchess of Cambridge's official engagements will continue to pick up and we're still waiting for the announcement on if William will stay in the military or if he and Catherine will become fulltime royals.

Also, I hope everyone will take into account that William & Catherine will soon have an infant at home. They'll do their royal duties but also their family life is also a job.
 
Actually we don't know if they are happy with the numbers done by Kate and William - if the reports are true that The Queen didn't like the fact that Kate didn't work before the engagement and that there is a push within the family for William to do more royal duties and leave the RAF then the evidence suggests that there is some disquiet within family.

The other thing is that the public are questioning the low work level - they want to see the royals and if they aren't out and about doing things then the questions will increase about their relevance and even about whether they deserve the perks that come their way. Some years away yet but if they don't change their tune and they really are no longer 'young' being over 30 - not middle aged yet but closer to that than really young when there were acceptable excuses - they never will. It is harder to break a habit once over 30 and for Kate who has never really worked it will be really hard to start doing 100s of appearances and the necessary preparation for those appearances.
 
...if the reports are true that The Queen didn't like the fact that Kate didn't work before the engagement and that there is a push within the family for William to do more royal duties and leave the RAF...
I take your point about bad habits and Catherine not working. BUT....

she has been doing something that no one else in her position has done before. She has been running a home, and no servants. Yes we have heard about cleaners but she has been making the home in Wales, doing her own shopping rather than have people come to her etc etc. it is very different to how it's been done in the past.

Then she takes on some royal duties as expected and she has done well. so well that we'd like her to do more but William is her priority so she doesn't do a lot more.

As they get established at KP and domestic staff are increased, she will not have to do housekeeping and will have the time for royal duties.

I've said this before but I think she loves doing the royal engagements and it is William that has issues. But she gets the flack.
 
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To be fair, the comparison between Sophie and Kate isn't really accurate. Sophie worked when she first became a Royal and still managed to do 100 odd engagements a year. She quit her job/was forced to give up in 2002 to support the Queen in her Jubilee year and was pregnant in 2003. Since then she has worked less because of Louise and James, but she still worked more than Catherine did.

I'm actually not comparing them, just stating that Sophie had a chance to grow into her role. She didn't take on 300 engagements right from the start. She was able to raise her children and hold off on doing full-time duties (if 300 is the number that people are using to define that) until last year. As for working less because of her kids, I don't have a problem with that. I'm glad she was able to take time off. Especially when you remember that Diana was doing 300 engagements a year when Harry and William were little.

You do bring up an interesting point about working and engagements. Sophie did 27 engagements her first year, 129 engagements in 2000 and 134 in 2001 (most of the engagements were overseas). If Sophie could manage those higher numbers with her job, then how come William and Harry get excused for their low numbers? Is it because Sophie could set her own hours since she owned the PR firm, while Harry and William don't have that ability?

Actually we don't know if they are happy with the numbers done by Kate and William - if the reports are true that The Queen didn't like the fact that Kate didn't work before the engagement and that there is a push within the family for William to do more royal duties and leave the RAF then the evidence suggests that there is some disquiet within family
The only place I've seen that mentioned the Queen being unhappy with Kate's work pre-marriage, is in the DM. So I take that with a huge grain of salt. As for any unhappiness with their current schedule, there really is no way to know. It was announced during the engagement that they would take a few years off to settle into the marriage, so it's not like their part-time status came as a surprise to the Queen.
 
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Catherine did have a job before she became engaged to William. The tabloid reports is what Catherine addressed in the engagement interview. She made it known that she worked for her family business, Party Pieces.
 
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