How Kate Middleton Is Preparing For Her Role as Queen

After a trying year and a return to public royal events with viral appearances at Trooping the Colour and Wimbledon, Kate Middleton is spending the rest of the summer under the radar as she continues to undergo cancer treatment. The royal, who is staying “very calm” amid her ongoing chemotherapy, is already looking ahead to the future and planning accordingly.

BBC correspondent Jennie Bond recently told OK! that the princess is preparing for her future role as queen.

“I think you have to be quite tough to survive—and thrive—in the royal family,” Bond explained. “It must be easy to be rather intimidated by the hierarchical system of the palace.”

Being at the helm of the Firm is an even bigger responsibility, though, Bond thinks Middleton has the confidence to take on the title.

“But Catherine has the advantage of knowing that she will one day be the most senior woman in the family, and indeed in the land,” she continued. “And so she has a right to make her views known about how the institution of monarchy is going to proceed in the years and decades to come.”

As a part of her preparations, the Princess of Wales has tapped a royal who has experience in the role of queen consort: Queen Camilla.

“I think Queen Camilla and Catherine have drawn strength and inspiration from one another: two women in this extraordinary situation in life, both with the same bizarre destiny,” Bond said.

As King Charles continues his own battle with cancer, Middleton is aware that she and her husband, Prince William, could take the throne earlier than expected. The princess has decided to prioritize her family and children in the meantime.

“Like a lot of people who have a brush with mortality, Kate is going to prioritize the things that matter to her from now on. In her case, that means her kids,” a source previously toldThe Daily Beast.

“Charles’ cancer hasn’t gone away, the palace have said as much, and to be brutally honest, the once-popular notion that he will live to a similar age as his mother [94] or father [99] is now less widespread,” a separate insider added. “I think that has very much focused Kate’s mind on the fact that there may only be a few years of freedom left. What does she want to do with them? Nurture her kids and try her best to equip them for the life ahead of them.”