Prince William and Kate Middleton "Act as a Bridge" to Older Royals

Members Of The Royal Family Attend "Together At Christmas" Community Carol Service — (Image credit: Getty/Max Mumby/Indigo)

Prince William and Kate Middleton are riding a wave of popularity right now. For their latest effort, they hosted a much-publicized carol service at Westminster Abbey, which was attended by several younger members of the royal family, including Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice, and Zara Tindall.

For royal expert Dickie Arbiter, it's not a coincidence for us to be seeing more of the Cambridges' generation these days. "It’s the third generation taking the lead—we’re living in a time, the Cambridges are the bridge within the monarchy," Arbiter tells Femail.

"The carol service was Kate's idea—but it's one way for other members of the royal family, who have all been involved in one way or another on the COVID front, to come together and say thank you," he continues. "It was very much the Duchess of Cambridge’s initiative, who works very closely together with the duke. It was almost a joint project with the duchess taking the lead."

Arbiter goes on to explain why the Cambridges' role is so important within the royal family right now. "Young people know who the Queen is but they can't quite attune with someone so distant in terms of the age gap," he says. "When you have people like the Cambridges, they act as a bridge between the young people and older generation."

With the Queen suffering health issues in the last few weeks, and after the passing of Prince Philip in April, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been stepping up and taking on a "higher role" in the royal family in recent months.

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Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.