Royal reinvention no.2: Forty new outfits (but no ladies in waiting). How Kate's plotting to dazzle Hollywood
Tour: Kate's plotting to dazzle Hollywood
From what little we saw of her during a brief meeting with the Obamas this week, the Duchess of Cambridge has come back from honeymoon lightly tanned and even slimmer than she was on her wedding day.
Prince William, meanwhile, has returned more determined than ever the couple should adapt to married life at their own pace.
Hence his belief that 20 minutes with the Obamas (with no television cameras) was enough and they didn’t need to attend the evening’s State Banquet at Buckingham Palace.
This was partly so that they should not upstage the Queen, partly not to put a strain on Kate, and also to create a helpful precedent; if you don’t turn up for the U.S. President’s dinner, you don’t need to turn up for anyone else’s.
The return from honeymoon can be tricky for any couple. For these two it is acute, because how they decide to behave will be a powerful sign to their staff, the media and the rest of the Royal Family as to what sort of role they intend to take. And the signs from William are that it will be on his terms, and his terms only.
On Monday night, a couple of days after the pair got back from their £4,000-a-night idyll in the Seychelles, he was playing football in Battersea Park with a bunch of Old Etonians, like any other newlywed Sloane in summer. After that brief Obama meeting on Tuesday (it is likely that had it been any other head of state, there would have been no meeting at all) they vanished from view once more.
Now, their rented farmhouse on the windy isle of Anglesey beckons for a couple of weeks before the next big show. First, Kate will have more thank-you letters to write after the wedding than most of us accumulate in a lifetime; and given that these will be kept for ever by their recipients, they can’t be dashed off. Or typed.
She is also said to be polishing her French for their tour of Canada, which begins on June 30. She is very much aware that the nation’s sizeable French-speaking population will judge her on her accent and command of the language — the Queen, Prince Charles and Prince William are all fluent.
To cap it all, she must plan that influential wardrobe, to encompass conservative Canada and the tour’s second leg, taking in laid-back California and in particular glitzy Los Angeles.
Wardrobe worries are best tackled in London, where she can try on the clothes that arrive at her London residence Clarence House (some are sent on spec, others called in).
She drives herself back from Anglesey in her Audi, or travels in a Range Rover with her protection officers, and in the capital her mother and sister Pippa — and Private Secretary to the Princes, Helen Asprey — are happy to be fashion advisers.
Calculated: The 20 minutes Kate and William spent with the Obamas were well planned to not put too much pressure on the Duchess of Cambridge
But, thrilling though it sounds to most women, separating the Reiss frocks from the Issa dresses she often wears, and sifting through all those fascinators is quite a task. For this tour, it is estimated she will need at least 40 outfits, and that would be allowing for no choice or changes in the weather.
She will want to present the best of British fashion — High Street and designer — and some polite local choices.
Before the tour, the couple will attend public events. There is Trooping the Colour on June 11. Kate, in formal get-up including a hat, will travel down the Mall in a carriage, while William, in his Irish Guards uniform, complete with a bearskin, is expected to ride a horse. It will end with their triumphant return to the Palace balcony.
On June 21, William turns 29. Last year he celebrated quietly with Kate and worked; it’s likely he will do the same this year.
Nine days later, it’s their first tour. As a former Palace aide puts it: ‘A first Royal tour places immense pressure on a young bride because everyone is keen to know what the blueprint will be for her life as a Duchess: whether she has a lady in waiting, or a stylist.’
The Palace says the Duchess has not yet decided whether to take a stylist. But insiders point out that ‘equerries and ladies-in-waiting — and valets, and stylists — all perform valuable tasks.
‘On tour you cannot iron all your own clothes, don’t have time to unpack, can’t hold all the flowers you are handed and, most importantly, need someone to start chatting in a crowded room.
Taking their time: The royal couple seem intent on adapting to married life at their own pace
Otherwise, wherever they go there is a deathly silence as everybody eavesdrops while waiting to talk to the Royals. Ladies-in-waiting break that silence by talking on their behalf.’
However, one friend of the couple points out Kate’s reticence to hire staff has logic to it. ‘The more you embrace the trappings of royalty, the more people expect from you — and you can’t reverse it.’
Canada has a special pull for both Kate and William. Although she’s never been to the country, her late grandfather served as a trainee bomber pilot near Calgary during the World War II.
And in March 1998, a few months after their mother’s death, Prince Charles took his sons, then 15 and 13, skiing in the Canadian resort of Whistler. In Vancouver, the reception was ‘completely overwhelming’, a royal observer recalls. ‘Local girls bunked off school and screamed hysterically, holding up signs saying “Marry me William”.’
'A first Royal tour places immense pressure on a young bride'
It was also an outpouring of affection after the loss of his mother. No wonder it led to the ‘fond memories’ of the ambivalent Prince of today, who finds himself moved by attention, yet somewhat wary of it, particularly on behalf of his bride.
Not that the trip will be without complications. In a country with a growing republican movement, Michael Babad, a columnist for The Globe and Mail newspaper, summed up the view of the more spoilsport Canadians: ‘I have no doubt they will capture the hearts of Canadians . . . I will grudgingly toast the cute royal couple, but I’d much prefer that the drink was on them.’
In French-speaking Quebec, where they will probably go next, anti-monarchy sentiments are stronger than anywhere. Two social action groups are threatening to make the visit ‘as unpleasant as possible’.
The couple are also expected to visit Cavendish on the Atlantic coast, because Kate is keen to see the setting of Anne Of Green Gables, which she read as a child. William may visit the Canadian Coast Guard base in Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island: it has several Sea King helicopters for search-and-rescue missions like the ones he flies in Anglesey.
They are also due to visit North West Territories and Alberta, where Kate’s grandfather Peter Middleton was stationed with the RAF. (They will probably avoid Cowboys Niteclub, a Calgary bar where Prince Harry kissed bartender Cherie Cymbalisty in 2007 while training at a nearby Forces base.)
Fond memories: Canada has special significance for William, who skiied there in 1998 with his father and brother afew monhs after their mother's death
And from there, it’s California. The Palace are keen to play down any celebrity element — the Beckhams, Guy Ritchie, Elton John and other Brits were said to be accidentally on purpose in town on those dates and willing to host parties or come to dinner.
One report even suggested Victoria Beckham, who is expecting her fourth child, had booked her Caesarean in early so she was available.
However worthy the timetable of civic events, there is sure to be some glamour. As William was made President of the British Academy of Television and the Arts in 2010, an event with BAFTA’s Los Angeles division is on the cards.
Even in Hollywood, it's the new Duke and Duchess who will be calling the shots
That aside, a few friends — his cousin Lord Frederick Windsor lives in LA with actress wife Sophie — and celebrities will want to toast them. While Arnold Schwarzenegger was keen to meet the royals, the libidinous former Governator will no longer have a role.
There have been rumours that the couple will stay at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where two new £7,500-a-night bungalows are being hurriedly built, or they may plump for the more secluded Bel-Air hotel, where Charles has stayed.
Here, they could host a dinner or take up one of the many offers — for example from Forrest Gump producer Steve Tisch — to hold a party in their honour.
But the Hollywood royalty can forget throwing cocktail parties for them if William isn’t keen; because even in Hollywood, it’s the new Duke and Duchess who will be calling the shots.
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