It can be really hard entering a new family and it must be even harder when that family is the Royal Family. There are many things that you can no longer do and so many things you now have to do and that can be really overwhelming.
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However, it seemed the Queen was prepared to help Kate adapt to life as a royal.
Royal rules
Those who are born into the Royal Family have a head start compared to those that marry into the family. Indeed if you are born into a royal family from day one you are taught all the customs and traditions that come with being a royal. Whereas if you are marrying into the family and have no royal background you are starting from scratch and you have to unlearn so many aspects of your previous life.
It would seem that before Kate Middleton married Prince William in 2011, the Queen took it upon herself to teach Kate these rules and customs. According to Ashley Pearson in the documentary Kate Middleton: Working Class to Windsor these ‘lessons’ were to teach Kate ‘how to be a royal wife’ and ‘preserving her modesty’.
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The Queen’s lessons
During these lessons, the Queen taught Kate things you wouldn’t think need to be taught but for someone entering such an influential and important role, they are needed.
According to Ashley Pearson:
There were things like learning how to get out of a carriage without exposing your modesty and learning how to bend down to get flowers from a young girl without exposing your modesty.
But she also taught her about royal etiquette such as how to curtsy and which people to curtsy for and who not to. She was also taught which forks to use and when.
Ashley Pearson said:
She was actually given lessons on how to be a royal wife.
Prince William was also given ‘private royal lessons’ when he was a young boy attending Eaton College, where he would spend afternoon tea with the Queen and she prepped him for his future as an adult royal and one day King.