All hail Kate Middleton, the woman who can rebrand the British monarchy

Prince William And Kate Middleton

For the first time in 350 years, a future king of England is marrying a woman with no title or pedigree. Thank God for that. If ever a royal man needed a shot of bourgeois marital contentment, it’s Prince William Arthur Philip Louis Windsor, who was raised in the parental storm of Charles and Diana. It shows how Kate Middleton’s wise, patient eight-year slog as an official girlfriend was powered along by the aspirations of two generations of formidable women, her mother and her grandmother. The 29-year-old Middleton is sporty, smart, shinily well groomed. She’s so unaffectedly well mannered that she’s now seen as perfect casting for a royal way of life that has to radically change once the queen and Prince Philip—and Charles and Camilla—have left the national stage.