Kate shared a close bond with the late Queen (Image: getty)
The late Queen Elizabeth II shared a close bond with Princess Kate, with their relationship strengthening when the now-Prince and Princess of Wales based themselves at Kensington Palace – which is located a short distance from Buckingham Palace. The 41-year-old has often been praised for her calm and confident nature with the late Queen said to have been the perfect mentor for the Princess. Here, Express.co.uk delves into how the late monarch secretly guided Kate and helped her become the ideal future Queen.
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Perfectly thought-out outfits
Both the late Queen and Princess Kate have been known for their exceptional fashion choices – although both are said to be mindful when it comes to dressing for public occasions and engagements.
The late couturier Sir Norman Hartnell previously spoke about Queen Elizabeth’s attitude to style, stating that she and the Queen Mother “do not want to be trend-setters” and that their clothes have to have “a non-sensational elegance”.
He added: “That’s left to other people with less important work to do.”
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Kate wearing purple last year (Image: Getty)
Princess Kate is known to mix high-street with designer as she also makes careful choices on what she wears.
The 41-year-old has also been known to recycle her outfits and is often snapped in the same outfit twice.
In May 2012, Kate wore a Emilia Wickstead dress at the Sovereign’s lunch at Windsor Castle and, again, at her first garden party at Buckingham Palace in the same month.
Both Kate and the late Queen have both been known to share clothes with their sisters in the past. Pippa Middleton was snapped in a Katherine Hooker coat in 2011 – with Kate having worn the coat to the launch of the RNLI lifeboat in Anglesey earlier in the same year.
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The Queen liked bright colours (Image: Getty)
Kate has also taken a leaf out of the late Queen’s style bible by displaying a range of bright colours.
A shared love of photography
In 1958, the late Queen was presented with a Leica M3 camera – which the monarch packed for royal tours.
When she visted the Great Wall of China in 1986, Prince Philip proceeded to ask his wife why she was taking “another picture when we’ve had hundreds taken?”
She replied by stating that she wanted her own personal selection of images.
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Kate is known for her love of photography (Image: Getty)
Kate, who is patron of the National Portrait Gallery, once described herself as an “enthusiastic amateur photographer”.
During the Covid pandemic, Kate stood at the forefront of the Hold Still project, which was founded by the National Portrait Gallery.
Kate is also a keen photographer herself and is known to take pictures of Prince George, 9, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5, ahead of big events – such as their birthdays.
The mother-of-three then shares them publicly, much to the delight of royal fans.
The Queen loved taken her own pictures (Image: Getty)
There when the nation needs them
In 1940, just one year after World War II broke out, the late Queen and Princess Margaret addressed the nation on the BBC’s Children’s Hour slot.
The sisters joined forces in the drawing room at Windsor Castle to boost public morale.
The then-Princess Elizabeth said: “Thousands of you in this country have had to leave your homes and be separated from your fathers and mothers. My sister Margaret Rose and I feel so much for you, as we know from experience what it means to be away from those you love most of all.
“To you living in new surroundings, we send a message of true sympathy and at the same time we would like to thank the kind people who have welcomed you to their homes in the country.”
Kate and William took time to make various trips during lockdown (Image: Getty)
The late Queen and sister Magaret in the BBC broadcast (Image: GETTY)
In 2020, during the Covid pandemic, Kate took on a similar stance when she and William visited frontline healthcare workers at a London-based NHS 111 call centre.
The pair came across the former Buckingham Palace telephonist who had met William as a baby – to which, he asked her: “Was I behaving myself?”
Dog lovers
The late Queen was well-known for her love of animals and owned more than 30 corgis during her 70-year reign.
In 1933, a then-seven-year-old Princess Elizabeth was allowed to pick a new dog to join her family.
The late Queen loved dogs (Image: getty)
She chose Dookie, who was the corgi with the longest tail so they could see “whether he was pleased or not”.
On her 18th birthday, she was given another corgie, called Susan.
Dr Roger Mumford, an animal psychologist and behaviour therapist, told Town & Country magazine that the corgis would “sit in a semicircle around her” and that she would “fed them one by one”.
The Princess of Wales has also owned a few dogs in her life – including the Middleton family dog called Tilly.
Kate also loves dogs (Image: Getty)
The Queen married Philip in 1947 (Image: GETTY)
The Prince and Princess of Wales’s family dog, Lupo, died last year.
The couple have since said Lupo was “at the heart of our family for the past nine years”, adding that the family “miss him so much”.
Carefree years
The Queen spent about two years in Malta beginning around the time of her second wedding anniversary to Prince Philip.
She has previously described those years away from the royal fold as the “happiest days of my life”, with the trip being encouraged by her father.
Kate and William staying in the Isle of Anglesey (Image: GETTY)
Not yet the Queen, the then-Princess Elizabeth would spend her days driving around in the Daimler that her father gifted to her on her 18th birthday.
Being days that the Queen never forgot, she wanted the now-Prince and Princess of Wales to have a similar experience.
After the couple wed in 2011, they rented a four-bedroom farmhouse on the southwest corner of the Isle of Anglesey.
During the summer, Kate would have barbecues on the beach and, on one occasion, Kate cooked burgers for the local cubs and beaver scouts and helped them catch crabs and fish in the sea.
