Busy day for Princess Kate yesterday. She spent the early part at the Royal Foundations Mental Health in Education conference. In the evening, as patron, she attended the 100 Women in Finance Philanthropic Initiatives gala at the V&A Museum. To promote the event, Amanda Pullinger, the CEO of 100 Women in Finance, said that, “Our Philanthropic Themes are Women’s & Family Health, Education, and Investing in the Next Generation. It’s raising money but also raising awareness for the next generation of women who can see that there is a place for them in these leadership roles”. 

 

With that in mind, Prince William is spending Valentine’s Day supporting a similar message. He visited with members of the Lions Barber Collective that trains barbers in #BarbersTalk: 

And then he spent time with the Future Men charity and their “Future Dads” program. 

As more and more women take on leadership roles, the household dynamic is changing. And men are being encouraged to assume more domestic responsibilities. These men are gathering, with William, to talk about fatherhood, to share their experiences, many of them with their babies in their arms – just like women have done for centuries. For history. Fathers are finding each other in community, normalising their caregiver duties. Current dads are showing imminent dads the basics, like nappy changing:

I can’t dump on this, pardon the pun. And I love the timing of it: that while Kate was out the night before celebrating women who are making their mark in finance, the next day Will’s spending time with men not in the boardroom but at a diaper station, validating that this, particularly for men, is important work too. The optics are terrific. 

I wish I could say the same about her dress. It’s Gucci and it’s …whatever. That said, it’s perfect for her. Because this is the kind of look we saw on red carpets back in, like, 2009. Which means that the old-timey pearl-clutchers have had a decade to get used to the style and embrace as “on trend”. This is the style lane that Kate has to occupy in her position. It also happens to be the Middleton style lane. So excellent execution all around.