The Princess of Wales has a picture-perfect image in public – and it's easy to see why she's so adored.
Kate, 44, has maintained her popular "girl-next-door" image for many years, according to Catherine Mayer, author of new book, Divide & Rule, published on 20 June.
But behind the scenes, she is a "woman of considerable power and control" and controls her own image.
Writing in the Daily Mail, the biographer claims: "Behind the girl-next-door image is a woman of considerable power and control, who has played the royal game more adroitly than most.
"Google Kate’s names (any of them) and results come back studded with the same trio of adjectives: 'beautiful', 'radiant', 'perfect'. To her biographer, Robert Jobson, she exemplifies 'the quintessential image of a picture-perfect princess'."
She adds: "In public, she is unfailingly cheerful, managing to give the impression, even at the most mundane royal engagement, that there is nowhere she would rather be.
"But in private, she is reportedly capable of a coolness that sometimes chills."
Kate – the royal enigma
Catherine Mayer's new book explores how the Princess's public image is fiercely protected.
Ever since pictures of her on holiday in Switzerland with Prince William were published in 2004, bringing to light their romance, she has been unable to stay anonymous.
© Samir Hussein/WireImageThe couple had first met in 2001 on the same History of Art course at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, though William later transferred to a Geography degree.
She was cruelly branded "waity Katie" in the years before William proposed in 2010, with attention only increasing after their 2011 nuptials at Westminster Abbey.
Once, she looked ready to share the royal burden with Meghan Markle after she married Prince Harry.
But after they stepped down as senior working royals in 2020, she appears ready to shoulder it alone.
Royal agenda
Last weekend, the Prince and Princess of Wales attended Peter Phillips' wedding to NHS nurse Harriet Sperling at All Saints' Church in the Cotswolds.
© Getty ImagesTheir united appearance was particularly poignant, given that William missed his cousin's first wedding to Autumn Kelly in 2008.
Kate, 44, wore a cream Roland Mouret boucle dress with gem earrings from Kiki McDonough and tumbling hair.
The couple exchanged lingering looks of love, with the Prince making sure to shelter his wife from the rain with an umbrella.
The coming weekend looks to be equally busy for the Wales household. It's expected that they will attend the Trooping the Colour parade for King Charles's official birthday on Saturday – an exciting day filled with pomp and splendour.
On Sunday, William celebrates his 44th birthday – so perhaps the family will be spending time at home together in Forest Lodge, Windsor.
