Kate Middleton Is Preparing For Her Queen Role ‘Sooner Than Expected’ After Her Cancer Recovery
The Royal succession rules are clear, and that means the expectations for the members of the Royal Family, including King Charles, Queen Camilla, and the Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Kate Middleton are easy to understand even if you are not all that familiar with how royalty works.
King Charles was the oldest son of Queen Elizabeth II, who was the oldest daughter of King George VI. She was not expected to be Queen, because her father was not expected to be King, but after George’s brother, Edward VIII abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson, Queen Elizabeth became the heir apparent and would later go on to become the monarch, which is how Charles is now the one who sits in the throne of England. That makes Prince William the next in line to the throne, and Kate Middleton, his wife, the woman who will be the next Queen of England.
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But when will Kate Middleton become Queen? When will William become King? Is there a set time? Here’s what we know about when the two will ascend to the throne and the preparations that are taking place for it.
When will Kate Middleton become Queen?
The easy answer to the question is that William will become King and Kate will become Queen when King Charles dies. They could, of course, become King and Queen before that, if King Charles were to abdicate, but the normal way for succession to proceed would be in the event of a monarch’s death. That’s what happened when Queen Elizabeth died and King Charles ascended to the throne. Before that, he was the Prince of Wales. There are, of course, no indications King Charles is planning to abdicate any time soon, even if he has reportedly been battling cancer for most of 2024.
Recent reports have surfaced that indicate Kate has started to take on bigger roles, conscious of the fact that King Charles’ health is delicate enough that the time when she and Prince William might have to step into bigger responsibility might come sooner rather than later. Royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith, for example, told PEOPLE, “Although the King is carrying out his duties with typical determination, he has had to accept limitations during his cancer treatment. As a result, William has been taking on more responsibilities, and he and Kate have been preparing for their future roles sooner than they would have expected.”
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Plans are being made for the eventual succession, even if those plans don’t indicate any thought or desire for that succession to come soon. Instead, it is protocol to have those plans in place at all times to ensure continuity. “It is something the institution is always mindful of,” a source told the outlet about the plans, and the fact that those are frequently updated no matter who the monarch is. “It is an institutional preparedness.”
The Prince and Princess of Wales and their children are set to spend Christmas at Sandringham with King Charles where they’ll participate in the royal family’s celebrations and, if all goes as planned, join in the traditional walk to and from church, though that has yet to be confirmed. Presumably, plans for the traditional walk will depend on the health of both King Charles, Kate Middleton, and Queen Camilla, who has also been under the weather lately with pneumonia.
Kate Middleton has eased back into public life after facing her own health struggles this year. The Princess of Wales announced in March that she’d been diagnosed with cancer, like King Charles. In September, she confirmed she’d completed chemotherapy and was now cancer-free.
