Why I’m in awe of the Duchess of Cambridge’s inspiring example to young women – Sarah Todd

THIS correspondent’s late grandmother was a Royalist; she loved the Queen and all she stands for.
The Duchess of Cambridge continues to set an inspiring example to the Royal family and country, writes Sarah Todd.The Duchess of Cambridge continues to set an inspiring example to the Royal family and country, writes Sarah Todd.
The Duchess of Cambridge continues to set an inspiring example to the Royal family and country, writes Sarah Todd.

Even her loyalty would have this week been tested by Prince Andrew; above all grandma would have been mad about the upset for his mother and the tarnish to her own home city of York.

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For months now, the Duchess of Cambridge has been on this writer’s mind. At every opportunity the Editor’s ear has been bent about her. Granted, this might not be the right time to wax lyrical about a member of the Royal family, but this opinion is about the positive role model she is becoming for girls and young women.

The Duchess of Cambridge continues to set an inspiring example to the Royal family and country, writes Sarah Todd.The Duchess of Cambridge continues to set an inspiring example to the Royal family and country, writes Sarah Todd.
The Duchess of Cambridge continues to set an inspiring example to the Royal family and country, writes Sarah Todd.

It’s heart-breaking to see vacuous ‘celebrities’ idolised, their plastic hair, teeth, nails, breasts, bottoms (everything) obsessed over on Instagram and other social media. Girls around the world are sat slack-jawed in their bedrooms clicking the ‘like’ button at this oh-so dangerous perma-tanned species.

They go mad over a new shade of nail polish being promoted or some silly video clip. On the flipside of this, there is a generation of young men who no longer expect girls to be intelligent; to them the ideal woman looks like a porn star and says nothing of any consequence.

This is where Her Royal Highness Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, comes in. Earlier this month she took over from Prince Harry (grandma would have had something to say about him) as the patron of English rugby. There was something about the strong image from the day of her being held aloft by the players – both men and women – that was so empowering.

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If we’re going to be picky, she’s maybe a bit thin. Obviously though, after three children, that’s just the way she is. But 
her hair pulled back in a 
practical ponytail, wide and natural smile, no obvious make-up or fake tan, she looked smashing. But that’s not the point really. Her ‘look’ is the icing on the cake of the kind, intelligent and empathetic person she seems to be.

The Duchess of Cambridge continues to set an inspiring example to the Royal family and country, writes Sarah Todd.The Duchess of Cambridge continues to set an inspiring example to the Royal family and country, writes Sarah Todd.
The Duchess of Cambridge continues to set an inspiring example to the Royal family and country, writes Sarah Todd.

That rugby picture came just after the televised Christmas Eve carol concert at which the Duchess played the piano with such aplomb. It turned out that she had also played in a school flute group – called the Tootie-Flooties – with her younger sister Pippa and been deputy head chorister in her school’s chapel choir.

The piano teacher who had visited the Middleton family home once a week, to teach all three of the siblings, declared quite early on she was never going to be a concert pianist. 
This makes her performance even more inspiring, the fact she isn’t a brilliant player but stuck at it and practised. She risked making a fool of herself and, in doing so, here’s hoping there are some girls out there that she inspired.

The cynical will say ‘how middle-class’ playing the piano. To them, the reply has to be that hundreds of working class families scrape together money for music lessons. Many begging and borrowing from grandparents to make learning an instrument possible, especially now cost-cutting has made provision in schools so poor.

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The weekly knock on the door of the music teacher isn’t exclusively heard in the comfortable corner of Berkshire where the then Miss Middleton grew up. Taken the right way, her piano playing was a tribute to all those who believe – quite rightly – that being well-rounded is about more than how many followers a young person obtains on Snapchat, Instagram or whatever.

The Duchess of Cambridge continues to set an inspiring example to the Royal family and country, writes Sarah Todd.The Duchess of Cambridge continues to set an inspiring example to the Royal family and country, writes Sarah Todd.
The Duchess of Cambridge continues to set an inspiring example to the Royal family and country, writes Sarah Todd.

There have also been pictures of the Duchess having a game of tennis with young 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu. The pair were promoting the National Tennis Centre. Again, there will be those who say tennis is out of the reach of many. In mitigation, there was nothing privileged about Andy Murray’s Scottish upbringing in Dunblane.

The Duchess seemed genuinely overwhelmed to be alongside such a talent. She knew it was an honour and instead of just taking, she uses her role as patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club to campaign to help as many children as possible get the opportunity to play.

The Daughter telephoned from university last night and asked what we were up to at home. She warned ‘people will complain’ about yours truly putting the Duchess on a pedestal. “They’ll say she was privately educated,” she warned. “That she’s married to a prince…”

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That’s so not the point. She would hate her mother using them as an example, but among the guests at our offspring’s recent 21st birthday party were her three best friends from school (the secondary in the local market town). One is going to be a doctor, one an architect and the third is at Oxford.

It’s young women like these – who were made to feel awkward and uncool at school for going to sports clubs, doing their homework and not posting scantily-clad photographs on social media – that give hope that they didn’t break the mould when they made the Duchess of Cambridge. Grandma would have thought they were grand young women – a barometer worth striving for. We owe it to all the little girls out there to admire the admirable, not the trash championed by reality television and the internet.

Sarah Todd is a former editor of Yorkshire Life magazine. She is a farmer’s daughter, mother and journalist specialising in country life.

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