Prince William and Kate Middleton were always considered far more formal than Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
As the future king and queen consort of England, the Cambridges will always have a different set of rules and expectations than Harry and Markle ever did as senior royals. But Eric Schiffer, an expert on celebrity brand management, told Insider that when it came to the couple's public-relations strategy, Middleton and William took "little risk" before Markle and Harry's interview with Oprah Winfrey in March.
"They were manicured to the nth degree," he said, "and played their public persona with a Buckingham Palace excellence, out of the playbook that's been mastered for centuries."
Before the pandemic, William and Middleton almost never posted videos on their official Instagram page. If they did, it was usually a slideshow of photos or a clip played over one of the prince's formal speeches.
The Cambridges also rarely showed affection toward each other in public, believed to be in line with royal etiquette.
But Markle and Harry's explosive interview with Oprah hurt the royal family's reputation.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex dropped several bombshells during the two-hour interview. Markle said Middleton had made her cry over a flower-girl dress (not the other way around, as some publications had reported), while Harry said he and William were "on different paths."
Markle and Harry also said that they received no support from the royal family when Markle began experiencing suicidal thoughts and that some royals had "concerns" about their son's skin color.
Schiffer told Insider that the interview released a "giant smoke bomb" that affected the royal family's reputation while boosting Markle and Harry's global image, helping them connect "with people's humanity and their own struggles."
"It created this contrast, and Harry and Meghan's PR strategy, in essence, is to be the unanointed modern-day royals of the populace," he said. "This is a populist strategy."
Days after the Oprah interview, William and Middleton shared personal family photos on their official Instagram page.
On March 14, Mother's Day in the UK, the couple posted pictures of cards and a cake they said their children — Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis — had made to remember Princess Diana.
"For those experiencing bereavement, today may be particularly challenging," one of the captions said. "Each year on Mother's Day, George, Charlotte and Louis make cards remembering their Granny, Diana, for William."
That week, Middleton visited children at a school in London that had reopened after the UK eased lockdown restrictions.
Clare McHugh, a royal historian, told Insider that Middleton and William's swift new PR strategy was one that the royal family has used since Queen Victoria and Prince Albert took the throne in the 1840s.
"That was a revolutionary moment in Europe when all sorts of monarchies were being overturned," McHugh said. "They had to find a way to make the monarchy seem more appealing so that it would stick around.
"So they fought back by showing, oh, no, the monarchy is just like you," she added. "They showcased their children much more than any monarch had done before."
On March 23, Middleton and William visited Westminster Abbey, where they tied the knot in 2011.
Weeks before their 10th anniversary, the Cambridges returned to Westminster Abbey, which had been turned into a coronavirus vaccination center.
Middleton appeared to pay tribute to the church's history by sporting a white knee-length coat. The couple also walked down the same aisle that they walked down on their wedding day.
On April 27, Middleton and William played with children and animals at a farm in Durham, England.
Middleton and William were photographed having a blast during their visit to Manor Farm. Middleton learned how to drive a tractor and was seen happily petting a lamb with one of the farmer's daughters.
It would be just one of many visits where the couple engaged with children and animals as they ramped up their public appearances in April and May after the UK eased lockdown restrictions.
Their poses seemed partially inspired by Markle and Harry's intimate engagement photos from 2017.
In one of the photos, Middleton's elbow rests on William's leg as they hold hands. As Insider's Talia Lakritz pointed out, the pose is nearly identical to one of Markle and Harry's engagement pictures.
Middleton and William also released a video celebrating their 10th anniversary. It showed the couple being affectionate with each other and doting on their children as they played on the beach, climbed trees, and made s'mores over a campfire.
That day, Middleton and William hosted a drive-in movie night for National Health Service workers at the Queen's palace in Edinburgh.
"The royals are very active at the moment to try and reach a wider generation," Richard Fitzwilliams, a royal historian, told Insider. "They interact a great deal more with the public. There's an approachability. There's a friendliness. Kate radiates confidence.
"There's a feeling that unquestionably they've not only got it together, but also as a couple they interact with such tremendous confidence and charm," he added.
On May 27, the Cambridges were once again photographed playing sports with children.
Middleton and William were all smiles as they played tennis with schoolchildren who were part of the Lawn Tennis Association youth program in Edinburgh.
A post shared by Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@dukeandduchessofcambridge)
William and Middleton have shared videos of many of their recent public engagements, including this one, on their Instagram. Gone are the overly formal slideshows with William's speeches. Now we're seeing the duke and duchess laughing with each other and the public in their social-media clips.
"It's very interesting to me that in the wake of the Oprah interview they have really adjusted their style," McHugh said. "They realized if they don't, they'll be overshadowed by this couple living in California, so they have to show themselves. They have to reveal who they are more, because that's the currency now. So they let the anniversary film out, and they have YouTube, and they make jokes. It's a new world."
That day, the Cambridges met with a young girl with cancer at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
Mila is featured in Middleton's "Hold Still" photography project, which showcases how people across the UK got through the early days of the pandemic.
"Through Hold Still, I wanted to use the power of photography to create a lasting record of what we were all experiencing — to capture individuals' stories and document significant moments for families and communities as we lived through the pandemic," Middleton wrote in an Instagram post announcing the project.
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June 16, 2021 at 11:47PM
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21 photos that prove Prince William and Kate Middleton are trying to change their public image - Insider
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