As Princess Kate continues to transform into one of the royal family’s most passionate advocates, royal experts explain why her areas of work as future Queen are so vital
Mitya Underwood Senior Celebrity & Royal Writer and Anna Pointer
17:00, 22 Jan 2026
Kate has become particularly passionate about a few key areas(Image: Corbis via Getty Images)
As Princess Kate continues to ramp up her work following her 2024 cancer diagnosis, a royal expert says she is looking more determined than ever to make a difference. The future Queen, 44, made a triumphant speech late last year in which she made an impassioned plea for employers to look after the health of their employees, and it marked a significant levelling-up of her royal duties.
Over the years, and especially since she became a mother herself, the Princess of Wales has become a dedicated children’s champion. In January 2023, she launched her Shaping Us campaign through The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, highlighting the importance of the first five years in a child’s life.
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Kate is comfortable performing her royal duties – and also cares deeply about her legacy(Image: AP)
“The way we develop, through our experiences, relationships and surroundings during our early childhood, fundamentally shapes our whole lives,” she said.
Through public campaigns, high-profile visits and collaboration with experts and policymakers, Kate has helped drive research around children and parenting. “It’s something she has a real passion for,” says ITV News Royal Editor Chris Ship.
“Kate believes those early years of life shape the next 50, and that if we don’t address it, we’ll have fewer healthy, happy adults. It’s not been a royal focus before, but she understands the science and applies it to many areas of her work. She’s not just going through the motions.”
While the late Queen held more than 500 royal patronages, Kate has chosen to hone in on the causes most important to her, says royal author and expert Katie Nicholl. “What we’re seeing with the younger royals is a consolidation of their charitable efforts, and a call to action. They’re spreading themselves less thinly because there are fewer working royals now, so their work has to be more impactful.”
One of the first royal women to use her platforms as a force for good was Princess Diana, Kate’s late mother-in-law, who tackled head-on some of the more sensitive subjects that others shied away from. According to royal expert Katie, she became adept at “pushing royal protocol and boundaries”.
Diana toured an active minefield and met victims of landmines in Angola in 1997(Image: Daily Mirror)
“She was more tactile than the other royals, and her show of public affection marked a shift in the ways the family could ‘do’ philanthropy,” Katie tells us.
In 1987, Diana made a landmark visit to the UK’s first dedicated AIDS unit, challenging beliefs that the virus could be transmitted through touch by shaking hands with a patient. She was involved with a leprosy charity, making physical contact with those affected by the disease and memorably, she toured an active minefield in Angola in 1997.
Recalling her legacy, Chris says, “The work Diana did turned the spotlight on causes that didn’t get much coverage. At times she was accused of meddling in politics, but she said, ‘No, I’m just a humanitarian.’
When she went into hospital shaking hands with AIDS victims, she demolished all those stigmas, and she was a trailblazer in that sense. Today, her influence lives on through William and Harry, who both have that same compassion and informality.”
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