One day, Kate Middleton will be queen—a consort to her husband, Prince William, when he is on the throne.
According to The Daily Mail, early in her royal life, she received advice from another consort, this one who, before retiring at the age of 96, was the longest-serving consort in British history: Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth.
Prince Philip and Kate Middleton on June 17, 2017.
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Royal biographer Gyles Brandreth—who became a friend of the late Duke of Edinburgh, who died at 99 years old in 2021—said that Philip was “relieved” that William found “such a level-headed girl” in Kate, whom William met while both were students at the University of St. Andrews in 2001. Philip apparently gave Kate advice that she still adheres to today, over 14 years after marrying into the royal family in 2011.
Prince Philip and Kate Middleton on June 16, 2012.
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“One of the things that saddened—and worried—the Queen and Prince Philip about Diana, Princess of Wales, was not that she was popular, but that she allowed her popularity to go to her head,” Brandreth wrote in his book Philip: the Final Portrait. “Once upon a time, Philip and Elizabeth were seen as characters from a fairytale. The difference between them and Princess Diana, I think, is that they did not take it personally.”
Philip said, according to Brandreth, “If you believe the attention is for you, for you personally, you’re going to end up in trouble. The attention is for your role, what you do, what you’re supporting. It isn’t for you as an individual. You are not a celebrity. You are representing the royal family. That’s all.”
Prince Philip and Kate Middleton on May 15, 2016.
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Beyond that, Brandreth wrote of Philip’s advice, “Don’t look at the camera. The [late] Queen never looks at the camera. Never. Look at who you are talking to. Look at who you’ve come to see. Diana looked at the camera.”
Even after Philip’s death over four years ago, Brandreth said that Kate—now the Princess of Wales—still takes the late Duke of Edinburgh’s advice to heart. “She never looks at the camera,” the biographer said of the future queen.
Kate Middleton and Prince Philip on June 12, 2016.
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It has been said that William and Kate modeled themselves directly after the Queen and Philip, who were married for 73 years before his death. At Philip’s funeral, William paid tribute to his grandfather, saying his “enduring presence” guided him “both through good times and the hardest days,” no doubt referring to Diana’s 1997 death, when Philip walked beside William, Prince Harry, Prince Charles, and Diana’s younger brother Earl Charles Spencer behind the late Princess of Wales’s casket.
In their early days of marriage, Brandreth wrote that William and Kate lived “a relatively normal young officer’s life” that was “not dissimilar to the experience enjoyed by Philip and Elizabeth when the Duke of Edinburgh was a young officer serving in the Royal Navy in Malta 60 years before.”
Brandreth had the occasion to watch William and Kate “doing their thing” at a royal engagement in 2012, “and they did not put a foot wrong,” he wrote.
Prince William and Kate Middleton on March 15, 2025.
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Kate Middleton on November 15, 2023.
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“At all times their focus was entirely on the people immediately in front of them,” he continued. “Not once did either of them play to the cameras—or even acknowledge them. And I noticed, too, that just as the Duke of Edinburgh, in more than 70 years of royal duty, never once put himself above, before, or ahead of his wife and sovereign.”
Though Brandreth added that “Philip would take no credit for the successful way” that Kate has merged into royal life, “She appeared to have learnt all the lessons that Philip could have taught her,” he wrote.