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TL;DR: 

  • Nov. 9 Kate Middleton video shows her talking to a 3-year-old boy.
  • A commentator says the Kate Middleton video showed how much worse off the royal family would be without Kate Middleton. 
  • Kate Middleton evokes “emotional response” in what commentator calls the “most precious commodity” for the royal family, “by the truckload.” 
Kate Middleton smiles wearing a green coat and poppy pin to visit Colham Manor Children's Centre on Nov. 9, 2022, where a video showed her talking to Akeem, 3.
Kate Middleton | Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images

On many occasions, Kate Middleton has had some seriously adorable moments with kids. Whether the Princess of Wales is holding a baby or giving parenting advice, there’s almost always an awe-inducing scene. However, a commentator says these tug-at-the-heartstrings interactions, specifically a recent Kate video featuring a 3-year-old and a poppy pin, highlight something else; that the royal family would be in trouble without Kate. 

​​Kate Middleton gave a boy her poppy pin during a November 2022 appearance

During a Nov. 9 visit to Colham Manor Children’s Centre, Kate had a short conversation with Akeem, 3. It ended with the mother of three giving the boy her poppy pin. 

According to royal commentator Daniela Elser, the exchange “might sound a bit dull,” (via New Zealand Herald). Although she wrote, it’s probably exactly what royal aides hope to see. 

“The perfect alchemy of a member of the House of Windsor on sparkling, perfect form; the awesome power of social media and a very cute child thrown into the mix,” she said. “It was, quite simply, adorable and heart-melting.”

“But, once everyone has stopped making “awww …” sounds, let’s consider what this moment really drives home, and that is; how stuffed the royal family would be without Kate.” 

‘Emotional response’ is important for royal family and Kate Middleton delivers, commentator explains

“Support for the monarchy is not just built on the public’s cool-headed intellectual assessment of the institution’s benefits to the national good but on an emotional response,” Elser said. What keeps the palace afloat is the adoration and affection they engender.” 

Back to the Kate video. It showed she “can deliver this most precious commodity by the truckload.” Had Prince William married a different college girlfriend, Elser opined, chances are she wouldn’t “have that elusive, rare star quality that Kate does.”

“If Kate was not on the scene, if William has not chosen so well, the monarchy would be more than a bit  f***ed,” the commentator said. 

Video didn’t look like a ‘calculating publicity ploy’ from Kate Middleton, commentator says

Kate Middleton talks to Akeem, 3, which a video demonstrated, per a royal commentator, the royal family would be in trouble without Kate Middleton
Kate Middleton | Daniel Leal/Pool / AFP via Getty Images
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Elser also pointed out the video’s impromptu feel. A “small handful of smartphone-wielding parents” and Sky News’ Royal Correspondent, Rhiannon Mills, filmed Kate and Akeem’s chat. 

There were no photographers on “step ladders” peering over a wall for a snapshot. “The only proper photo agency shot of this interaction came from Getty and was taken from a way away,” Elser said. “Which is to say, this was not some calculating publicity ploy.”

What this video perfectly encapsulates is that Kate not only intrinsically understands the job – to charm the public one at a time, to bend hearts and minds towards the monarchy day in and day out, and that this is a lifelong marathon of a task – but she’s a woman who genuinely seems to enjoy what she does,” she continued. 

Perhaps recent polls are further proof Kate’s indispensable to the royal family. She may not have ranked no. 1 as the most influential royal. That honor went to the late Queen Elizabeth II. But she took the no. 2 spot.