Do we like Catherine, Princess of Wales?
Our score: 7 out of 10. Nothing harmful in her own words or acts, a long run of charity work, but she says little on the issues we care about, so we can't go higher.
She grew up in Berkshire, in Bucklebury, after a stint in Jordan where her father worked, from 1984 to 1986. She went to Downe House School and then boarded at Marlborough College. Ordinary-ish middle-class roots, before the most famous marriage in Britain.
She became Princess of Wales in 2022, when King Charles gave that title to William in his first speech as monarch. Her line of work is early childhood, which one report calls her “life's work”. After a long stretch out of public view, she made a return to Wimbledon in July 2025 to hand out a trophy.
The one proper stoush was the 2024 Mother's Day photo. Picture agencies pulled the family portrait within hours, saying it had been manipulated. Kate then admitted she had edited it, saying she “occasionally” experiments with editing, and apologised for the confusion. That's a clumsy PR moment, not a scandal about how she treats people.
On the harm check, honestly, the record is thin. Royals stay out of party politics, and nothing from her own mouth targeting LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants or the planet turned up. In 2026 she met the first female Archbishop of Canterbury, celebrated Leicester's British Indian community and posted for International Women's Day. We found no film slate or company to worry about. The gap is that she rarely says anything on trans rights, so you're reading her actions, not her words.
Her 2026 diary is full: hosting England's women's rugby team at Windsor, a solo visit to Evelina London Children's Hospital, Royal Ascot, the Anzac Day wreath-laying and the Forward Trust visit. Plenty of it is ceremonial, and tabloids keep inventing marital drama around it. We found no solid reporting behind that, so call it tabloid territory.
The real stuff is the Shaping Us campaign, launched in January 2023 through the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood she founded. It pushes the idea that the first five years shape everything, and she framed it as “we are all responsible for building a more compassionate world”. She has also been a patron of Action for Children and a visitor to a prison mother and baby unit.