Unlike other royals and celebrities, the Duchess of Cambridge (aka Kate Middleton) does not accept free clothes from designers. Sacre bleu! A royal who understands conflicts of interests! Why, most of them don’t even understand conflicts of interest within the bounds of matrimony, i.e., dating another whilst married does tend to create conflicts. The Duchess, who will one day be queen, pays for her clothes. She even goes to shop for her own clothes. Oh, if she could just do a few seminars for Hollywood and corporate royalties to help them understand the risks of freebies.
It also sounds as if the Princess understands the importance of the “schlub” factor — we retain humility and keep an ear to the ground when we keep doing the day-to-day tasks the rest of the world must do, and all by their lonesomes. Having “people” who do your errands and serve at your beckon call has an impact on more than humility — it increases isolation, decreases candid feedback, and raises the level of self-importance to one of belief that the rules do not apply to you. Often called “The Bathsheba Factor” it gained its name through King David’s folly. A king who quit going to battle and had others manage his troops, keep up the palace, and cook and do all functions except stare out the window for the king. With a little too much time on his hands, David did just that and whilst staring out the window, noticed an officer’s wife bathing. He summoned said officer’s wife (one Bathsheba) to the palace. The result was an expectant officer’s wife — Bathsheba was with David’s child. Despite questions and concerns from hsi underlings, David sent the poor and loyal  officer, who was unaware of his wife’s infidelity, into the frontlines of battle where he was killed. David and Bathshebe then married quickly to cover their indiscretions. The result was multi-generational misery in David’s family. And thousands of years of royalty with incredibly poor judgment, until now. If Princess Kate understands conflicts of interest, we can expect great things and a continuing humble countenance when she becomes the queen.
