Fans of Kate Middleton have flooded the Internet with birthday wishes for the Duchess as she celebrated her 39th birthday on Saturday.
A tweet shared by Kensington Palace showed a photograph of the Duchess of Cambridge smiling behind a face mask, captioned with some words of thanks for those who wished her a happy birthday.
The message acknowledged that birthdays have been challenging to celebrate over the past several months due to the coronavirus pandemic and sent thoughts to those working on the “front line,” including doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers.
Among the comments were several references to Kate Middleton as the “Children’s Princess,” an apparent reference to her late mother-in-law Princess Diana‘s nickname, the ‘People’s Princess.’
It also reflects the work that the Duchess of Cambridge has done for several years to promote children’s education and wellbeing, including studying early years learning herself.
One person commented to say that the Duchess does a “lot of good things” for children, while another said she was an “amazing role model” to millions of people.
Diana, Princess of Wales, died tragically in a car crash in 1997, years before her son, Prince William, met his future wife, Kate Middleton, at St. Andrew’s University in Scotland.
Following her death, Tony Blair — who was Prime Minister at the time — referred to her as the “People’s Princess,” in recognition of her charity work and popularity with people in the UK and around the world.
Many love the photo and the message because they are appropriate for the COVID-19 era and that Prince William’s wife is leading by example.
Language expert Judi James shared her thoughts on the tweet from the Palace for the Duchess’ birthday and believes that the language used is similar to that used by the Queen herself.
She added that the focus on key workers, and the message about birthdays being difficult, suggests that the Duchess is trying to convey a sense of togetherness when it comes to tackling the coronavirus pandemic.
She revealed: “This very brief message on Kate’s birthday suggests a very responsible and adult approach to the recent crisis. After a few words of thanks, Kate performs a verbal swerve here to remove her own birthday from the agenda and pin-up the front-line workers as central to her and all our thoughts.”
She went on to say: “It provides a timely contrast to the current celebrity circuit, which is busy treating people in lockdown to photos of expensive beach holidays abroad and the kind of party lifestyle that is out of most of our reach right now. There was no need to use her birthday message to refer to the ‘hugely challenging time,’ but Kate has clearly chosen to avoid any hint of personal celebration and adopt more of a ‘We are all in this together approach to her birthday.”
Duchess Kate has seen her popularity in the past year.
