New year.
New focus for Kate Middleton.
In case you somehow haven’t heard, the famous Princess has been not-so-quietly feuding with Meghan Markle pretty much ever since the former actress entered her life.
Did Middleton really make Markle cry just ahead of her wedding to Prince Harry?
Was Middleton the member of the Royal Family who made racist comments about Meghan and Harry’s baby son?
We may never know the answers to these questions.
A new report, however, suggests that we stop even trying to pose such inquiries… because Middleton is absolutely done entertaining them.
“She’s moved on and William has too,” a friend of Kate’s tells People Magazine in this week’s issue, adding:
“She’s very focused on what matters going forward. They aren’t looking back.”
Late last month, author Omid Scobie released a book titled “Endgame” that made a similar claim.
Writing about Middleton’s now-non-existent relationship with Meghan and Harry, Scobie said the following:
“There is no way she could ever trust them after all their interviews.”
This is a reference, of course, to all the media appearances made by Meghan and Harry in the wake of the latter releasing a memoir that tore basically all his relatives a new one.
Now that Queen Elizabeth has passed away and her father-in-law sits on the throne, Middleton is aware that she yields more influence than ever before.
“She takes things seriously — and thank goodness for that,” a source close to the royal household also says to People.
Adds Simon Lewis, former Buckingham Palace communications chief and cohost of the BBC podcast When It Hits the Fan:
“She’s very much seen as a player at the center of team Windsor.”
Middleton doesn’t say a whole lot in public.
But author Valentine Low says this doesn’t mean she’s meek or powerless where it matters most: behind the scenes.
“She has this public image of being nice and smiley and, dare I say, innocuous,” says Low. “But she is actually strong-minded, strong-willed and prepared to fight for what she wants and what she thinks is right.”
This may bode poorly for Markle down the line, too, concludes Low.
“She is going to be queen one day and has the longterm interests of the monarchy and royal family at heart.”