Kate has moulded herself to fit the institution and now has the sort of soft power politicians would kill for
On a chilly day back in January, one of the most recognisable women in the world plunged into a surprised crowd of shoppers in Leeds’s Victorian market.
The Princess of Wales obligingly fielded requests for selfies, including with a man so flustered by encountering royalty he could barely get the words out. (She reassured him gently that “we all get nervous”, though if she still does after more than a decade of this, it doesn’t show.) But after shaking some hands and chatting to traders, she moved on to the University of Leeds for what was arguably the heart of the day. The princess, promoting her new project on how the first five years affect children’s life chances, attended a lecture on child psychology and afterwards talked to students on the childhood studies course about their dissertations. “It makes me want to be back at uni,” she told them. “Everyone says it’s never too late.”
