With the way she carries herself, her poise and impeccable style, the Princess of Wales seems as though she was born for her future role as Queen Consort. But becoming the glittering jewel in the crown she is today didn't happen overnight. Joining The Firm meant learning royal protocol and mastering the many rules that come with life as a member of the royal family.
While Catherine has established herself as a "walking symbol of elegance," Laura Windsor, founder of the Laura Windsor Etiquette Academy, points out this wasn't always the case.
Learning royal etiquette
"[In the past] there were a lot of photos where she was scratching her head. She had her hands in places that she shouldn't have them, she used to come down the stairs very inelegantly, and slowly in time, now you find photos of her, and she is a walking symbol of elegance," Laura, known as the Queen of Etiquette, tells HELLO!.
"She always has her hands at belly button height, with one hand cupped in front of the other... it's always at waist height, and she walks straight. Her whole demeanor is one of elegance. Her shoulders are back, her rib cage is up. She doesn't stick out her neck, and she walks with elegance. So that's something that she's had to learn.
© Samir Hussein/WireImage"Sometimes when I teach royal etiquette, I show the photos of her in her pre-elegant times and it's astounding."
Today, however, you'll never see Catherine "walking inelegantly," Laura notes. Maintaining class and elegance in public is required of a royal, according to the etiquette expert, and that is "done through deportment," which "translates into elegance." And it is deportment that Laura believes is actually the hardest rule for someone joining the royal family to follow.
"You may follow every rule in the book, but if you look inelegant, people aren't going to be convinced, and the movements have to be restrained. Not a lot of flapping your hands all over the place and walking in a hurried fashion. It all has to be as if you're gliding like a swan on a lake," Laura says.
© Karwai Tang/WireImageCan't afford missteps now
While Catherine was not born into the monarchy, royal etiquette has become second nature for the future Queen Consort. Laura observes: "Now it looks as if it's so natural for Catherine, and as if she's been in the royal family forever."
Given faux pas that have been made in the past, Laura explains that rules are taught rather than simply expected to be understood, adding that, these days, the royals cannot risk any slip-ups.
"[Catherine has] realized that she can't really afford to make faux pas because it's not good for business right now, especially now," Laura says. "So everything that she does, there are millions of eyes on her and therefore she has to adhere properly to everything.
"We can't afford to have gossip and mistakes right now."
© Anwar Hussein/Getty Images)Unlike Catherine, who has learned and embraced the rules of royal etiquette, Laura believes the Princess' sister-in-law Meghan Markle "has no idea about decorum."
"If [Meghan] did, she would be more emotionally intelligent and behave differently," Laura says. "If you enter into an institution, there are rules, there is protocol, and if you don't want to follow it, then go somewhere else."
