Will and Kate celebrate 5th anniversary
Their wedding was spectacular, their happiness plain, and five years on, Prince William and the former Kate Middleton are still living the blissful life.
The fifth anniversary of the nuptials watched by multiple millions around the world is Friday, which seems like a good time to contemplate the state of their union — and the state of their royal brand.
Both seem to be more than sound: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, a future king and his queen consort, appear to be still in love and very happy together. As such they remain the most-watched members of the royal family after granny Queen Elizabeth II, who just turned 90.
Queen Elizabeth II marks 90th birthday on Thursday
Only one thing could rival the couple's dominance, says CNN royal commentator Victoria Arbiter, who grew up the daughter of a royal press secretary.
"Prince Harry getting married would be the only thing that could take away the attention," she jokes. (Don't hold your breath: Harry, 31, is too busy even to have a girlfriend lately.)
But Will and Kate are "really important to Britain," says royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith, author of a forthcoming book on Prince Charles. "They are the faces of the future of the monarchy in the new generation."
Their appeal is obvious: "They are a young couple with two young children, and appear to be a ‘normal’ couple that people (in the U.K. and abroad) can relate to," says Charlie Proctor, editor-in-chief of Royal Central, a leading royal-news website in the United Kingdom.
"The Cambridges remain incredibly popular," says Charlotte Crawley, who runs the British blog HRHDuchessKate, a must-read for Kate watchers. "People who meet them find them very personable and engaging — their story has resonated globally and they have fans from all over the world. On the blog, over 50% of readers are from the U.S."
During their recent six-day state visit to India and Bhutan, the pair looked to be endearingly affectionate judging from little signs: He, lightly, protectively touching her back, she, leaning in close to him to talk and laugh.
They seemed to be in a permanent state of delight as they traveled around India and the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, doing their royal thing: meeting excited well-wishers and laying wreaths, feeding baby elephants and rhinos, hiking hours up to monastery on a mountain, and posing at the Taj Mahal, the world's most famous monument to love.
"They are clearly a couple very much in love," Crawley says. "They are very natural together, very much at ease, and I would say they bring out the best in each other."
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Why does it matter? Some will remember that at this point in Will's parents' marriage, the relationship between Prince Charles and Princess Diana was already beginning to fray, although the public didn't know it yet.
"It was an entirely different story for Charles and Diana, as their marriage was fraught with problems and professional jealousy," Crawley says. "With the Cambridges, it's a very successful partnership."
So it's likely to be a happy anniversary for Will, 33, and Kate, 34. As with the previous four anniversaries, it is expected to be privately celebrated with few details released by their media team at Kensington Palace.
From a royal point of view, the couple have already achieved one of their most important duties: They have produced an heir and a spare. Three days after the anniversary, on May 2, their second child, Princess Charlotte, turns 1 year old. And on July 22, their first child and third-in-line to the throne, Prince George, turns 3.
Expect more pictures (many fans can't get enough) of both children, probably some by keen photographer Duchess Kate herself.
But even the most popular royals can't escape some criticism, and lately the Cambridges have heard some, especially in the British media, about not working hard enough, not being transparent enough, blowing off some royal engagements and, worst of all, blowing off the hometown media.
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Smith says the Cambridges are feeling their way, trying to find a balance between their royal duty to be visible in public and their desire for as normal a life as possible for their family — in an age of 24-7 social media scrutiny. So far, Smith thinks, they have handled themselves well, have "not put a foot wrong as the British say."
"They are trying to preserve their family life, just as then-Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip, early in their marriage, were allowed to preserve their family life in the few years they had before she became queen," Smith says.
As a young mum, Kate would be criticized today if she were perceived as "neglecting" her children for months-long overseas trips, as was routine when the queen was a young mother in the 1950s, says Smith, also the author of an acclaimed biography of the queen.
"They’re hands-on parents, very involved in their children’s lives," Smith says. "And everyone agrees that parents who are engaged with kids, particularly in the early years, are to be applauded."
Still, for the monarchy to remain respected, beloved and financially supported in modern Britain, there is a risk when royal heirs choose privacy too often over public accountability, says Express royal correspondent Richard Palmer.
"My fear is that if William, Kate, and Harry continue at their current level of involvement in official royal duties and try to shut off the rest of their lives from the public for the next decade, there will be little left to interest people," Palmer says.
Arbiter, for one, thinks that Will and Kate and their advisers are fully aware of such pitfalls, and are prepared.
"The last few months have been quite good for them — they realize they are not infallible, that they need to take advice and to make sensible choices," she says. "No one can keep an upward trajectory forever... They’re just going to have to step up in a bigger capacity at home, because people want to see them and the children more."
