Kate Middleton is preparing to become Queen Consort under the shadow of Her Majesty the Queen.
The Queen’s biographer Sally Bedell Smith tells PEOPLE magazine how the 40-year-old duchess has learnt to live up to her royal duties by observing.
“She knows what resonates. She will have absorbed a lot from this Queen.”
Meanwhile, historian Sarah Gristwood added: “The Queen has always preferred to do rather than to say.
“With her audiences with her prime ministers, if there has been actual advice, it would be a discreet 'I think that went rather well' rather than actual instruction.”
She added: “It's a personal willingness to conform to the requirements of the institution.
“That sounds like an unappealing, unglamorous virtue, but it's an important one if you're going to be a successful cog in the royal wheel.”