It’s easy to be envious of the Royal Family. When it comes to royals like Kate Middleton, the future Queen of England, it’s easy to wish we had her glamorous life, deep pockets, worldwide fame, and (last but certainly not least) her endlessly posh wardrobe.
However, what you might not realize is that the head can feel pretty heavy even when the crown isn’t on there yet. Kate Middleton has been under tons of pressure behind closed doors, and it recently manifested in a surprising decision to take a break from many of her royal duties. What has kept Kate so busy and so stressed, and what’s the real reason behind her surprising decision to take a break from royal duties? Keep reading to discover the answer!
It began with the death of the Queen
While Kate’s decision to step back from her royal duties was made very recently, the reasons behind it stretch back to last year. In fact, most of Kate’s current woes stem back to that fateful day when Queen Elizabeth died. This was certainly a tragedy for the entire Royal Family, but it led to an effect on Kate that she had no way of really predicting or foreseeing.
When the reigning monarch dies, it often means new titles for various royals, but those titles come with added responsibility. As the future King and Queen, William and Kate had plenty of new responsibilities, and this came at the worst possible time. As royal guru Katie Nicholl said on The Royal Tea, “they made that big move just after the summer holidays to move to Windsor,” and this involved “leaving Kensington Palace, enrolling the children in new schools, and setting up a new life for themselves in Windsor.” They wanted some downtime to adjust to a new life, but the death of the Queen gave them no downtime whatsoever.
RELATED: Was The Future Queen Of England Brutally Bullied As A Child?
No work/life balance for Kate
It can be hard to imagine that Royal Family members like Kate Middleton struggle with some of the same things the rest of us struggle with, but it’s true. For example, all of that extra work she’d had to take on would have been annoying no matter what. But these circumstances have also made it functionally impossible for Kate to have any kind of proper work/life balance.
This assessment comes to us courtesy of royal expert and commentator Jenny Bond. According to Yahoo!, Bond recently said, “I think the work-life balance must have been difficult these past few weeks and, let’s face it, it’s not going to get any easier with their new responsibilities.” All of this, of course, adds some important context for why Kate would want to step away from as many of these royal responsibilities as she reasonably can.
Some think William and Kate aren’t pulling their weight
The disruption to her work/life balance and all those added responsibilities are already putting enough internal pressure on Kate to keep up appearances while tending to the needs of her family. To make matters worse, though, it looks like she may now be facing some external pressure that will ratchet the tension up for her worse than ever.
As reported by The Mirror, a source close to the Royal Family confided that “There’s a growing feeling that William and Kate aren’t pulling their weight. They are the future of the monarchy and are themselves senior members of the Royal Family.” Such pressure effectively brings Kate to an impasse in which she can work less and lose more public confidence or work more and completely lose what little is left of her work/life balance.
RELATED: Kate Middleton’s Most Royally Scandalous Outfits
The pressures of putting their children first
According to the Mirror, there was a different source close to the Royal Family that had a different read on what is going on with Kate Middleton. “William and Kate have been put in a very difficult position of choosing between the right path for their family or the future of the monarchy.”
In other words, they could work harder in service to crown and country now, but they’d be missing out on some of the most important bonding time with their young children. All of this led to a decision that we bet was fairly easy for Kate: she has “decided to put their children first while they are so young.”
Kate decides on her children over the Royal Family (for now)
Kate Middleton ultimately decided to pursue something of a compromise when it comes to both her royal duties vs. family duties and her work/life balance. Her children are currently on their first school break of the year, and this break started on October 13 and will last through October 30. Therefore, Kate is minimizing all of her royal engagements during this time to spend more time with her children.
She’s fairly serious about this, too, as she will also be skipping out on the upcoming ceremony where Prince William will receive the Earthshot Prize Award. Among other things, she will be using this time to help Prince George study for his upcoming exams. For better or for worse, she’ll be able to resume her previous breakneck pace of royal engagements once her children’s school break is over.
RELATED: Is Meghan Markle Secretly Keeping Harry From Speaking To Kate Middleton?