Duchess Kate’s maternity leave probably won’t end until October
May 25, 2018
I think we’re probably going to through another keen/maternity leave cycle once again with the Duchess of Cambridge. To be absolutely clear, I’ve always believed that Kate can and should take time away from a public schedule after giving birth. She’s entitled to a maternity leave, regardless of how little work she does beforehand. What has always bugged me about the “maternity leave” discussion with Kate is that apparently we’re never, ever supposed to mention that Kate simply does not like to work, that she’d rather just stay home and have babies and get her hair done and go shopping. We’re not supposed to say that all of the talk about Kate’s being “keen” to work is just dumb filler PR in between her pregnancies and maternity leaves. I blame Poor Jason, who will hopefully be fired pretty soon. So, it’s almost on cue at this point: of course some royal biographer or historian has to come forward and remind us that Kate will probably not take on any public engagements until the fall.
While Kate Middleton may have attended the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle over the weekend, reports are now stating that the public may not see the Duchess of Cambridge again until October. As we’ve come to expect, the reason behind this public hiatus all has to do with tradition. According to royal biographer, Duncan Larcombe, “It is traditional for new royal mums to take a six-month break from official engagements.”
As Larcombe stated, despite the fact that Middleton gave birth less than a month prior, the Duchess justifiably chose to attend Meghan and Harry’s nuptials, as that was a (very important and historic) family event. However, it is now expected that she will not be at many other events in the near future. The biographer explained, “The wedding doesn’t count because it was a ‘family affair’ but other than that, she will pick and choose her engagements.”
This royal maternity leave of sorts was likely also the reason that Kate was not present at Prince Charles’ 70th Birthday Patronage Celebration. “If she wanted, Kate could disappear into the background until October,” Larcombe added. Although, despite the fact Middleton now has the freedom to choose which events she will attend, Larcombe did note that we will likely see the Duchess again in June, as she is expected to make an appearance at the Queen’s official birthday celebration, the Trooping of the Colour.
This is what I assumed anyway – that we wouldn’t see much of Kate until the fall. As soon as I did the math on her pregnancy, I figured out that Kate would probably just take the whole summer “off” for her maternity leave. Again, I don’t have a problem with that – but I’m just anticipating all of the “but she’s truly keen to start working again!” PR from Poor Jason throughout the summer.
Now, all that being said, I’m guessing she will be especially keen to be seen at any of the events with Meghan and Harry and the rest of the royal family. I imagine she’ll get mysteriously pap’d at train stations and on shopping excursions just as Meg and Harry start doing public events after their honeymoon. I also think this whole cycle will start again because Kate totally wants another baby.
Photos courtesy of Pacific Coast News.
