Kate Middleton avoids 'complaints' to act as a 'cog' of Queen 'royal wheel'

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.”