The hardest working member of the royal family is definitely Kate Middleton and I can prove it with a simple thought experiment, which you can do yourself right now:
Step One: Okay, first, close your eyes and imagine ruling an entire country. Done? Make a mental note of how you feel right now and then proceed to step two.
Step two: Now, close your eyes and image being responsible for wrangling three elementary school-aged children. In public. No, like in the MOST PUBLIC possible. Also it’s a formal event, so the kids are all wearing clothes they’re uncomfortable in. Also, it’s a formal event so you are wearing clothes you’re uncomfortable in (like, idk, an enormous flying saucer hat and probably something made of wool and mandatory pantyhose even though it’s summer). And all three of the kids are awake and zero of the three kids are able to be distracted by an iPad. And a million people are watching/live-streaming/tweeting while you are *literally* paraded through the streets as you wrangle all three uncomfortable, fully-conscious, iPad-less children. And you have to smile the whole time. And the kids should be smiling at least like 90% of the time or you’re a bad parent/failure as a human being. And, it’s not just in your head: Everyone really is watching you and most of them really are judging you and if you mess up, it will be a big deal and it won’t be forgotten immediately and everyone will be talking about you behind your back about it (but loudly enough that you’ll definitely hear every single word, whether you want to or not). AND OMG THE FIVE-YEAR-OLD IS MAKING WEIRD FACES AGAIN so you better hope they’re cute weird faces and not weird weird faces (because if they’re off-putting faces, it will be your fault and you will be judged for it). Quick, get the almost-kindergartener to smile again but do it without breaking your own smile or really adjusting any muscles in your face at all if possible. And if you lose your temper and yell at him, you’ll probably be thrown in a dungeon that’s only for bad parents and human failures. (But don’t be too good at this all-smiles, intensely-public child-wrangling because there’s someone who you thought was busy ruling an entire damn country but who is reportedly not too busy to be “unsettled” if you get too much positive attention after their parade.)
Now go ahead and open your eyes, take whatever anxiety medication you have on hand and send Kate Middleton some good vibes because her life is a constant stress dream and she aces every test. The most recent test came during Trooping the Colour (aka the Child-Wrangling Parade) this weekend and Kate did what Kate does and aced it. Body language expert Judi James analyzed how the Princess of Wales managed to keep her kids on best behavior without breaking royal face, even when Prince Louis did things like this:
Here’s what James told The Sun about Kate’s Trooping the Colour mom body language:
“Kate’s firm but subtle signals ensure the children keep feeling enthusiastic and, in Louis’ case, excited. She beamed with pride when Louis started miming drumming along with the band in the carriage. Talking to her children there were a couple of gestures of what looked like guidance about when to wave.”
“There was also a spreading gesture of both hands that would normally mean quite a severe message of when to stop or what not to do, too. She also put her hands below public view in the carriage to mime that ‘stop’ or ‘end’ sign to them as though warning them where the boundaries were, and on the way back she was doing small reward nods and smiles for their good behavior, to ensure they were enjoying the event too.”
James pointed out that Princess Charlotte helped keep Louis in line during the carriage ride in particular.
“Charlotte told Louis to sit up while Kate leaned forward to straighten his tie. It’s very sweet to see how he responds quickly to orders from his sister. The minute Charlotte told him to sit up in his seat he pulled up straight away with no murmur of dissent or argument. When they got back into the carriage we saw Charlotte mirroring Kate when it came to little Louis.
As Louis sat between his two siblings Charlotte watched Kate carefully and when Kate leant forward to speak to her small son it was Charlotte immediately using one hand to signal that he should budge up in the seat.”
Kayleigh Roberts is the weekend editor at Cosmo, focused on celebrity news and royals. She’s a Ravenclaw who would do great things in Slytherin. To learn more about her, google “Leslie Knope eating salad GIF.”