As a Canadian, I am very supportive of having a ceremonial head of state which is at arms length from our political figureheads. Politicians, like our Prime Minister, come and go, but the Queen is a constant. One of the biggest benefits, in my opinion, is that this separation allows our political Prime Ministers to have a private family life. I suspect that, even with his current “celebrity” status at home and abroad, many people (Canadians included!) would have trouble remembering the name of Trudeau’s wife much less his children. Ceremonial visibility falls to the Queen and her representatives.
For the above reason, I’m plunking myself into the Kate camp because I’m amazed at how well she has morphed her personal style into an already very tricky balancing act when she appears in public. She looks fresh, appropriate, and at ease in her “work” uniforms which range from very informal to the highly ceremonial to the culturally sensitive. Even with trained help, hitting the right outfit note for these myriad, heavily-scrutinized situations is a mind-boggling challenge. Yet Kate seems to consistently pull it off even though she hadn’t the years of training from being born into that kind of world. I’m also awed by how carefully she is helping her children begin to understand the visual nuances of their public personas even at an early age.
As a “celebrity” royal with minimal ceremonial commitments, Meghan’s clothing choices were never as constrained or role-assigned as are Kate’s. And, with her and Prince Harry’s decision to withdraw from the “royal” role in the future, Meghan now won’t represent anyone, or anything, but herself and whatever “brand” she and Prince Harry decide to pursue. Like any other celebrity, what she decides to wear can be strictly a personal choice.
The very fact that an intelligent, modern woman like Meghan seems happy to leave the “royal” aspect behind speaks volumes about the pressure of inhabiting ceremonial positions without years of training for it. It’s been fascinating to watch how Kate, despite not being born a “royal”, seems to have figured out how to work within her role instead of being crushed by it.
