There’s More to Princess Kate Than Meets the Eye, Royal Author Says

The Princess of Wales’ tough streak is taking center stage lately, especially with the news that it was she who was behind the addition of the “recollections may vary” line from Her late Majesty’s statement in response to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey. Royal expert Valentine Low said, per The Mirror, that Kate is far tougher and steelier than she seems, and that she’s an expert at playing the long game as she prepares to be queen someday.

She has become a key player in King Charles’ slimmed-down monarchy—perhaps the most popular senior royal, and one that Low said thinks carefully about her role in bringing long-term stability to the royal family in the years ahead.

And, while Kate is typically all smiles and good cheer when in public, the “determined side of Kate is something rarely seen in public but is displayed behind Palace walls,” The Mirror reports.

“Interestingly, behind the scenes, she’s a lot more steely, a lot tougher than we give her credit,” Low told Page Six. “She’s this nice-looking woman, dresses nicely, smiles nicely, adopts sort of fairly uncontroversial charities. You know, they think she’s slightly bland.” (Not sure who the “they” is he’s speaking of, but bland she is not.) 

In the updated version of his book, Courtiers, Low revealed that Kate was behind the aforementioned “recollections may vary” line, pushing for its inclusion as it was on the cutting room floor.

According to Low’s book, it was a member of William’s team who came up with the phrase—but Kate who insisted it be kept in the statement. “There were some people in other [royal] households who felt it would antagonize Harry and Meghan and would go down badly and just keep the whole unpleasantness going,” Low writes in the book. “But it was Kate who really strongly made the argument,” in hopes that Harry and Meghan’s version of events wouldn’t be accepted as truth.

Kate “thinks very carefully about the long-term security and strength and stability of the royal family as an institution,” Low said. “She’s good. She has a good eye on the big picture, the long game.”