Kate Middleton Is Showing Real Leadership Within Royal Family

Kate Middleton has long brown hair and smiles while wearing a tartan coat and red sweater — (Image credit: Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Since returning to her role as a senior member of the Royal Family, Princess Kate has been widely praised for showing "inner steal." Following a cancer diagnosis in early 2024, the Princess of Wales underwent preventative chemotherapy. Now, Kate is being celebrated for showing "real leadership" by helping to effect change in an important area.

In 2023, Kate Middleton launched a Business Taskforce for Early Childhood, with a view to inspiring companies to change their policies regarding parental leave to help nurture families. As reported by Hello! magazine, Princess Kate's efforts appear to be paying off, as "Deloitte UK [is] changing its parental policies to give all parents 26 weeks full pay."

An organization called The Dad Shift is campaigning to change the law and allow fathers access to more paid parental leave. Co-founder Alex Lloyd-Hunter told Hello!, "Just last week we were outside Buckingham Palace hanging up baby grows spelling, 'Two weeks isn't enough,' so we're delighted to learn the Princess of Wales has been championing good paternity leave behind the scenes."

Kate Middleton wearing a white blazer with pearls and smiling — "The Princess of Wales has been championing good paternity leave behind the scenes."

Lloyd-Hunter continued, "It's good to see more and more companies realizing that better paternity leave is in their interest and stepping up with generous policies. But the vast majority of smaller businesses can't afford to do this, and that means their employees are stuck with the worst paternity leave in Europe." The Dad Shift's co-founder suggested that the government needs to step in to "significantly improve our statutory offer so every father and non-birthing parent gets a decent amount of properly paid leave."

Kate Middleton wearing a white gown and tiara talking to a man at a palace reception — "The princess has shown real leadership on this issue."

Celebrating Kate's contribution to the important issue, Lloyd-Hunter told the outlet, "The princess has shown real leadership on this issue—now it's time for ministers to follow her example."

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Amy Mackelden is the weekend editor at Marie Claire, where she covers celebrity and royal family news. She was the weekend editor at Harper’s BAZAAR for three years, where she covered breaking celebrity and entertainment news, royal stories, fashion, beauty, and politics. Prior to that, she spent a year as the joint weekend editor for Marie Claire, ELLE, and Harper's BAZAAR, and two years as an entertainment writer at Bustle. Her additional bylines include Cosmopolitan, People, The Independent, HelloGiggles, Biography, Shondaland, Best Products, New Statesman, Heat, and The Guardian. Her work has been syndicated by publications including Town & Country, Good Housekeeping, Esquire, Delish, Oprah Daily, Country Living, and Women's Health. Her celebrity interviews include Jennifer Aniston, Jessica Chastain, the cast of Selling Sunset, Emma Thompson, Jessica Alba, and Penn Badgley. In 2015, she delivered an academic paper at Kimposium, the world's first Kardashian conference.