Never before has Princess Kate’s life been so intricately covered than in Christopher Andersen’s new book, Kate! The Courage, Grace, And Power Of The Woman Who Will Be Queen.
Everything from her revulsion towards disgraced Prince Andrew to how she broke the news to children George, 13, Charlotte, 11, and Louis, eight, that she had cancer is covered in this shock new tell-all, and here, the royal biographer answers all of your burning questions about the future queen.
How is Kate preparing to be queen?
Unlike others who, at the beginning, felt Kate was too “common” to be a suitable wife for Prince William, Charles was always in Kate’s corner – and that was never more true than it is today.
Kate and the King’s simultaneous cancer journeys have brought them closer than ever. Nevertheless, at this stage Kate scarcely needs coaching from anyone.
The truth is, the rest of the royals can take lessons from her – and in a sense, they do.
Remember, Kate and William have been married 15 years, but they have been together as a couple for nearly 25.
No one has navigated the treacherous waters of the monarchy more skilfully than Kate – she has coped with all the obstacles thrown in her path.
Does she look to Queen Elizabeth’s role for guidance?
One of the reasons Queen Elizabeth and Kate got on so well, I think, is that the late Queen saw that she and William were genuinely in love with each other –something rare in royal circles – and that Kate would be a huge support to William when he assumed the throne.
Queen Elizabeth must also have seen in Kate a deep understanding of how important the monarchy is as a pillar of British society.
Kate shares Elizabeth’s deeply ingrained sense of duty – she is very patriotic in that sense. Yet she comes from a very different place.
Her mother grew up in public housing and worked as a flight attendant. Kate will not simply be England’s first genuine commoner queen, she will be the first [middle-class] queen.
She feels deeply honoured to have been given this chance to make a difference.
Unlike Duchess Meghan, who was apparently unwilling to make sacrifices in the interest of the 1000-year-old British monarchy, Kate takes none of this lightly.
What kind of queen will she be?
The parallels with her late mother-in-law Princess Diana are obvious. Like Diana, Kate is beautiful, compassionate and charismatic.
Both Diana and Kate are loving, devoted, hands-on mothers who have bucked tradition by lavishing attention and affection on their children, the first senior royals in memory to do so.
Before Diana, royal children were raised by nannies and governesses before they were shipped off to boarding school at a very early age. Diana changed all that, and Kate is following in her footsteps.
What Kate has that Diana sadly didn’t have was a husband who loves and supports her.
What is Kate and Charles’ bond like since their cancer journeys?
My book opens with a very moving scene at the London Clinic when Charles pads down the hall from his hospital room to Kate’s literally moments after they both learned they had been diagnosed with cancer.
Now that they’ve come out the other end – she has been in remission for around 16 months and he is doing well with ongoing treatment – Kate and the King really light up the room when they encounter each other.
They hug, exchange reassuring touches and kisses on the cheek – and they laugh. They laugh a lot. They share an offbeat sense of humour, a sense of the absurd.
In the midst of all that’s gone on in their lives lately, they turn to each other for giggles.
How has she tried to give the kids a ‘normal’ life so far?
Like many parents, Kate and William take turns driving the kids to school and picking them up at the end of the day.
You’ll remember how Diana scooped her sons up in her arms and showered them with kisses? Well, Kate doesn’t hesitate to show the same level of affection.
She actively participates in school events – including the annual parent foot race – and doesn’t hesitate to kick a ball around with them in the backyard.
The Middletons are fanatically competitive when it comes to board games, and she has passed this on to George, Charlotte and Louis as well.
Things get so heated during these games, in fact, that Prince William often makes a practice of excusing himself to “go walk the dog”.
Kate also helps the children with their homework and their crafts, and they have recently resumed preparing meals together.
The bottom line is that Kate will be the first queen to have enjoyed a normal, stable, nurturing middle-class upbringing, and she is determined that her own children share that experience.
No one appreciates how important this is more than William, who still bears the emotional scars from his own turbulent childhood.
How is her marriage to William, really?
Solid. No other word to describe it. They are there for each other.
It’s been “you and me against the world” pretty much since they first moved in together while they were still students at the University of St Andrews in Scotland.
Is there a rivalry between Kate and Queen Camilla? What is their relationship like now, after Camilla’s early doubts about her?
Camilla spent the better part of two decades trying to undermine Kate, right up until Kate’s cancer diagnosis. Camilla’s allies were planting stories in the press implying that Kate was something of a shirker – that she wasn’t pulling her weight.
It is true that Kate has always done significantly fewer royal engagements than other members of the royal family, but she has made it clear that is because she prefers to focus on her young family.
Now Camilla is just so grateful that Kate is there to cheer up her husband, the King – and vice versa. We can’t forget that Kate and the King are in this fight together.
Camilla is all in for the King, of course. He has always been her first priority, always.
In her defence, Camilla was as shocked and upset by Kate’s cancer diagnosis as the rest of the world. She clearly admires the courage Kate has shown in handling her own illness. But is there genuine affection there between Camilla and Kate? Let’s just say they respect each other. There’s an old adage, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Well, in this case the enemy is cancer. That’s the dynamic that’s at work here.
Have William and Camilla developed an alliance over the years?
Not really. William and Harry didn’t want their father to marry Camilla – in fact, they begged him not to.
But so much time has gone by now and William definitely appreciates that the King and the scandalous mistress who famously broke up his parents’ marriage are indeed soulmates.
Like William and Kate, they’re a genuine love match. King Charles has always needed Camilla, and she has stepped up to support him, not only as King but as someone for all intents and purposes fighting for his life.
How are they dealing with Charles’ health concerns?
We all knew Charles’ reign would be short, but that he should be stricken with cancer so soon after becoming King seems like an unspeakably cruel twist of fate.
Kate has been in remission since January of 2025, but King Charles is still being treated for cancer. His doctors say it is more a maintenance situation where the King is living with cancer, as opposed to dying from it.
According to those who know him well, Charles appears for all intents and purposes to be in robust health. While Kate is letting up on the gas pedal a little, the King has shown little appetite for slowing down.
It has been revealed that Kate was one of the first people to distance herself from Andrew. What are her feelings about Sarah Ferguson?
Like the late Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip, I think Kate has little use for anyone who so brazenly tries to exploit his or her connections to the royal family for cold, hard cash.
Fergie was famously caught in a sting operation doing just that.
The Epstein Files recently revealed that the former Duchess of York and the disgraced sex trafficker were pals – he paid off some of Fergie’s debts, in fact, in 2008 and 2010. William and Kate have written her off.
How does Kate feel about Beatrice and Eugenie?
The relationship with Beatrice and Eugenie is a tricky one.
William and Harry have always been fond of their cousins, but for her part, Kate studiously avoids Beatrice and Eugenie.
Which members of the royal family is she closest to?
Kate took advice from Queen Elizabeth, and now she confides in her fellow commoner inside the royal family, Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh.
Sophie took on a kind of mentorship role soon after William and Kate wed, and their bond has grown ever since. Kate is also famously close to William’s cousin Zara Tindall, who is George’s godmother.
It helps that her husband Mike Tindall and William are also buddies, and that the couples’ children are similar in age and essentially growing up together.
And then there’s the King – certainly her strongest and most important ally inside the royal family.
Has she ever tried to intervene with William and Harry? Does she want the brothers to reconcile?
Kate and Harry were always deeply fond of each other – he called her the sister he never had – and they made each other laugh, even when William didn’t get the joke.
Kate did everything she could to bring the brothers back together. You’ll remember Prince Philip’s funeral, when she literally stepped aside and steered William and Harry together in hopes they would reconcile.
It didn’t work. Even after Harry threw William and basically the rest of the royal family under the bus in his memoir, Spare, Kate held out hope that the brothers would find a way back.
But shortly after the King’s cancer diagnosis, Harry said in a BBC interview, “We don’t know how much longer my father has.”
Not only did that statement strike her as insensitive, but it sparked fears that King Charles might be at death’s door.
Does she have a relationship with Archie and Lili?
Simply a pro forma one.
I’m sure William and Kate and the King all share a sense of sadness in not being able to connect with Archie and Lili.
How does she cope with the pressure of knowing she’ll become queen?
She puts one foot in front of the other and as a consequence she never puts a foot wrong.
A friend of William and Kate’s told me she has this unique sense of calm, a kind of natural serenity that keeps her from ever getting rattled.
She faces each challenge as it comes, and takes one day at a time.
What is the partnership between her and William really like?
No partners in a marriage are exactly equal. Kate carries more weight on issues surrounding family, and she differs from her husband more on issues of organisation and policy.
They also have such different personalities. Privately, William can be moody, taciturn, and like his father, volatile.
A lot of this stems from the PTSD William suffered as a child, in the wake of his mother’s tragic death.
Kate has been William’s emotional rock throughout. But make no mistake, Kate is no pushover.
If William decided to patch things up with Harry, how would she feel about being in the same circles as Meghan again?
That will never happen.
Kate! The Courage, Grace, And Power Of The Woman Who Will Be Queen by Christopher Andersen is out now (Simon & Schuster, $36.99)
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