After being diagnosed with cancer in March 2024, Princess Kate has shared that her outlook on life, naturally, has shifted. While family remains her top priority, the Princess of Wales remains dedicated to her royal work. According to one commentator, Kate's health battle has inspired her to chart her own course, avoiding the restrictive palace bureaucracy that Princess Diana famously dubbed "the grey men."
Former BBC royal reporter Jennie Bond told OK! (via the Sun) that the princess “has grown into a strong woman and we are seeing her take agency over her own life."
"She is championing causes that she has chosen, and I think her cancer diagnosis has made her even more determined to carry out her role in the way that she believes is most effective," the royal expert said.
Princess Diana struggled with how palace officials tightly controlled many aspects of royal life—and fought back in her own way over the years—and Bond pointed out that Diana's daughter-in-law is now carrying on the late royal's legacy.
"In many ways she is continuing where her late mother-in-law, Diana, left off—refusing to be dictated to by 'the grey men of the palace'," Bond said.
While the late princess might have taken "a long time to stand up for herself," per the royal writer, Bond noted that at this point, Princess Kate "has now been either associated with or an integral part of the Royal Family for longer than Diana was."
It seems part of Kate's plan of not having her life being "dictated" by the palace entails spending much more time with her children than the royals who came before her. The Prince and Princess of Wales even skipped the 2025 BAFTAs in order to travel to Mustique with their three children this week for some quality family time.
When it comes to their work, Kate—who is heavily focused on early childhood development and how it impacts people longterm—and William—who has chosen to champion the causes of homelessness and the environment—are carrying out their duties "in a new way," per Bond.
"Both Kate and William are set on using their influence to try to repair the things that they believe are going wrong in modern society," the royal expert said. "They are both doing things in a new way, which perhaps the old guard of the palace might have found alarming."
