Kate Middleton—Protocols Broken From An Ordinary Citizen To Future Queen

The path to becoming a duchess demands many strategic and difficult life choices

We have all grown up reading fantasy tales of kingdoms with handsome princes on a search for their bride, a glass shoe, or the prick of a cursed spinning wheel whisking the ordinary peasant girl into royalty. But something of the sort has also taken place in reality with Kate Middleton, who although born into an upper-middle-class family was least expected to become potentially the future Queen of the United Kingdom.

Though many would call her lucky, I believe the life path she and her family pursued was quite likely to lead her to where she is now. There are many lessons to be noted from Kate’s story, and today I am here to help you learn some.

Life is a hustle

The Middleton family wasn’t born particularly wealthy. Her mother came from a family of coal miners and met her father while working as an airline stewardess. Her father, although relatively well off than her mother, was also not very rich. He worked as a flight dispatcher and met his wife at his job. Seeing that their nine to five would not be enough to achieve the lifestyle they desired, the Middletons decided to try their luck with a family-owned business.

They started a company together that sold party supplies, and with the support of Micheal Middleton’s family’s generational wealth, the company prospered. Soon they were considered self-made millionaires and were found mingling with the country’s elite.

Networking and making the right friends

Being wealthy means nothing if you don’t have the right people to share your experiences with. The Middletons knew what kind of lifestyle they wanted for their children and so they sent them to elite private schools and socialized with the richer class.

The Middletons often hosted British aristocracy and were not strangers to royalty, all this was because they weren’t afraid to put themselves out there and mingle with their peers.

Written in the Stars

For the regular person, the Middletons were definitely from the elite class, but for Royalty, they were still just normal citizens, and although their relationship with certain aristocrats was pretty tight, it was fate that brought the Prince and his beloved Dutchess together.

The two enrolled at The University of St Andrews, a public university in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, and through mutual friends and similar classes, were thrown into the same social circle.

Cupid was not to be kept from meddling, and the two went from being a couple of friends to just a couple. Their relationship however was far from being as smooth and peaceful as that of fairy tales, and in April of 2007, post-graduation, they broke up after trying and failing long distance.

It was not a long separation though, and the couple would later recall the time and state that it was for the better that it had happened, as when they returned together, it was a stronger bond. In October of 2010 on a trip to Kenya, Prince William asked Kate to be his wife, with the ring of his late mother Princess Diana. She said yes, and almost half a year later, the two got happily married.

While it is almost certain that luck and fate played the central hands in this happy story, patience, compromise, and belief in the love you have for your significant others are just as important. Relationships are fragile, it takes much dedication and care to keep them flowering.

The Media Vultures

Throughout Kate’s relationship with the prince, she was hounded by paparazzi and the press asking her personal questions and invading her space. Countless times, insensitive queries would be made about her character, family, and genuine intentions.

Tabloids would print any bit of gossip they got their grimy hands-on, and jabs would be taken at her and her family’s social and financial standings. There were plenty of people jealous and suspicious of her closeness with the Prince, but Kate soldiered through all these allegations without creating a media frenzy or adding any fuel to the fire.

Even when she and Prince William took a break from dating, the media did not leave her alone. Kate, however, persevered on like a true queen, making plenty of public appearances with a dignified strut and her beautiful, ever radiant smile.

These situations may sound unreal to you, but how many times in your life have you had to deal with people giving you unsolicited advice, or prying into your business? I am certain it has happened to all of us at some point, engaging with them or taking their jabs to heart will only harm you. Take a page out of Kate’s book, and let the haters hate.

The British Royalty is not poor in its set of unique etiquettes, from the banishment of Monopoly to the very particular dress code, they manage to stand out in society. Kate Middleton has paved her way to the inside not by dumb luck, but by being a strong, flexible, and determined woman who we can all learn much from.

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