凯特·米德尔顿在2011年4月与威廉王子大婚之后，这位平民王妃的一举一动都被人们所关注。作为妻子，她站在威廉身后予以支持；作为王妃，她用迷人的微笑征服了世人；作为年轻人的时尚偶像，她引发了“凯特效应”。2012年，凯特步入而立之年，世界仿佛已经在她脚下……
　　Kate Middleton grew up in a small village in Bucklebury, around 45 miles west of London.
　　As a commoner, she seems ordinary. One of three children, Middleton completed her schooling as a boarder at the prestigious Marlborough College before taking a degree in History of Art at St. Andrew’s University in Fife, Scotland, in 2001.
　　Yet, she is not. A picture shows the three-anda-half-year old Kate was determined to climb a mountain in the Lake District1. In 2001 Kate worked as an International volunteer in Chile. Rachel Humphreys, who looked after the volunteers, said:“She had a certain presence.” That quality was later recognised by Dr. Brian Lang, former vice chancellor of St. Andrews University. He said: “Kate was a very mature girl. She was a very attractive girl; she was a very popular girl, particularly with the boys. But she was always very in control of herself and impeccably behaved.”
　　She loved drama and caught the acting bug2 while appearing in her school plays and her dedication to her Brownie troop led her to participate in the group’s holiday outings and camps. She excelled at sports setting the school record for the high jump, and she picked up the flute to round out her education.
　　The past year has seen momentous changes for Kate, with a fairytale wedding to Prince William, travels around the world and glamorous appearances that marked her transition from commoner to the world’s most talked-about princess and style icon. She has won rave reviews for her sparkle, her elegant sense of style, and her common touch with the public. The media, yearning for a young and beautiful royal, documented—and largely admired—her every move.
　　“She’s done very well, playing a very good supporting role to Prince William and complementing him as part of a team,”commentator Robert Jobson said of her first few months as a royal. “We’ve not seen much of her, but when she’s in public she has performed with aplomb3,” added Jobson, who is the author of William and Kate: The Love Story.
　　凯特·米德尔顿在（伯克郡）一个名为巴克伯里的小村庄长大，这个村庄在伦敦以西约45英里处。
　　出身平民的凯特看上去普普通通：她是三个孩子中的一个，在著名的马尔伯勒寄宿学校读完了中学后，她于2001年来到苏格兰法夫郡的圣·安德鲁斯大学攻读艺术史专业。
　　然而，她并不普通。一张照片上，三岁半的凯特下定决心要爬上湖区的一座高山。2001年，凯特作为一名国际志愿者来到智利。负责照顾志愿者的雷切尔·汉弗莱斯评价她“具有某种气质”。这种气质后来也得到了圣·安德鲁斯大学前副校长布赖恩·兰博士的肯定。布赖恩博士说：“凯特是个非常成熟的女孩。她很迷人，也特别受欢迎，尤其是受男孩子们的欢迎。但她总是很自律，表现得无可挑剔。”
　　她喜欢戏剧，在学校戏剧演出时她简直对表演着了迷；在参加童子军时，她十分热心，并因此参加了童子军的假日聚会和露营活动；她擅长体育，曾创下过学校的跳高纪录，她选择学习长笛以丰富自己的校园生活。
　　在过去的一年里，凯特的生活发生了巨大的变化：和威廉王子举行了童话般的婚礼并环游世界，她富有魅力的外形也彰显出她从一个普通人向全世界津津乐道的王妃和时尚偶像形象的转变。她的活力、优雅的品位以及平易近人的个性让她广受好评。渴盼看到一位年轻美丽的皇室成员的媒体步步追随地记录并极为欣赏她的一举一动。
　　“她做得非常好，对威廉王子起了很好的辅助和补充作用，”评论员罗伯特·乔布森在凯特成为皇室成员几个月后这么评价她。“我们跟她见面并不多，不过她在民众面前表现地非常镇定自若，”乔布森补充道，他还是《威廉和凯特——爱情故事》的作者。
　　From the moment she clambered aboard her father-inlaw’s car for a crowd-pleasing drive around Buckingham Palace after the wedding, she has proved to be a consummate4 master of the common touch.
　　The best part about the Public Kate is that it’s actually not an act. People who have met and worked with the royals all say the same thing: William and Kate really are just like they seem—down-to-earth. When they are in Anglesey5, they stay in and watch television at night. They have the lightest staff of any of the senior royals. When a housekeeper was hired for Kate without her knowledge, Kate promptly reversed the hiring. Why would she want a housekeeper? She asked. To cook and shop and clean up after her and her husband, she was told. Kate replied that they were perfectly capable of doing their own cooking, as well as loading the dishwasher and going to the supermarket themselves (even if she does have to take a bodyguard along for the ride).
　　She has made no secret of the fact that she is determined to lead as normal a life as possible for as long as possible. For example, the royal couple often travel up and down to Wales from London on the regular train. They travel first class, with their protection officers of course, but other people are allowed in the carriage and they get a drink from the buffet car like everyone else. There is certainly no question of a carriage being cordoned off6 or of the royal train being requisitioned every time they want to make the trip.
　　她在婚礼后坐上查尔斯王子的车绕白金汉宫一圈以迎合公众，那一刻她展现出了绝佳的亲和力。
　　这位亲民王妃最好的一点就是她并不是在演戏。见过并与这些王室成员共事过的人都说：威廉和凯特就如同他们看上去一样亲切朴实。当他们在安格尔西岛时，他们晚上会呆在家里看电视，跟随他们的工作人员也是王室高级成员里最少的。工作人员在凯特不知情的情况下为她雇佣了一位管家，凯特立即解除了与管家的合同。她问，自己为什么需要一名管家？她得到的回答是为她和威廉做饭、买东西和打扫卫生。凯特回答说，他们自己完全能够胜任做饭、洗碗和逛超市（尽管她必须带一个保镖同行）这样的事情。
　　她毫不掩饰自己想要尽可能地过正常生活的决心。比如说，这对王室夫妇经常乘坐定点火车往返于伦敦和威尔士。他们坐的是一等座，当然也有安保人员陪同，但是其他人也被允许在同一节车厢就座，他们也和其他人一样从自助车里取饮料喝。当然不存在他们每次出行乘坐的车厢被隔离出来或者火车被征用为皇家专列的情形。
　　And yet, at the same time, Kate is effortlessly dignified and elegant, encapsulating everything that a modern royal princess should be—even if she is “only” a duchess. She has clearly been helped by the fact that over the past year she has appeared incapable of taking a bad photo. Whether it’s at big, formal events or visiting charity establishments, Kate always judges the mood perfectly. Kate knows, probably better than anyone else on this planet, the power of an image.
　　Since her wedding to Prince William turned her into a global superstar, she hasn’t put a foot wrong. What’s more, she has made it all look so easy.
　　It has not been any such thing. However much William insists that their private life is just that, their status and celebrity encroach on7 everything they do. Despite living in relative seclusion in a rented farmhouse in Anglesey–close to RAF Valley8, where Prince William works as a search and rescue helicopter pilot–Kate cannot even go to the local supermarket without being snapped by photographers.
　　Every detail of her outfit, accessories and hairstyle is then analysed and posted on Twitter within minutes of the pictures appearing on the Internet. William jokingly suggested that his wife go shopping in disguise.
　　Fortunately for Kate, she has William as her mentor and staunch9 ally in the crucial matter of being royal. They exchange private glances and loving hugs in public and set aside private time at their Anglesey home, which Kate says she loves and where she refuses to have staff, cooking for William herself when he is off duty.
　　然而，凯特不费吹灰之力就具备了一位现代王妃所应具有的高贵与优雅的气质，尽管她“只”是一位公爵夫人。很明显，在过去的一年里她从未留下一张不雅照，并因此获益良多。不论是参加隆重正式的活动，还是访问慈善机构，凯特总能完美地判断出应具有的精神状态。凯特可能比世上任何人都更加了解形象的力量。
　　自她与威廉王子的大婚使她成为一名国际超级巨星后，她不仅没有出过差错，还让这一切显得那么轻而易举。
　　但事实并非如此。无论威廉如何强调他们的私生活只是如此而已，但他们一切的所作所为都和他们的地位与名声联系在了一起。威廉王子是英国皇家空军谷的一名直升机搜救飞行员，因此他们居住在安格尔西岛靠近皇家空军谷的一个相对隐蔽的租来的农庄里。尽管他们住得如此隐蔽，凯特去当地的超市时还是会遭到偷拍。
　　她的服装、配饰和发型的任何细节都会在她的照片出现在网上后几分钟内被拿来讨论和在微博上被转载。威廉曾开玩笑地建议妻子乔装打扮一番后再去购物。
　　幸运的是，在成为皇室成员这件大事上，凯特有威廉这位伴侣的大力指导和坚定支持。在公众面前，他们亲切地交流眼神和深情地拥抱，在安格尔西岛的家中则留出私人时间，凯特很喜欢这样。在家的时候，凯特拒绝工作人员的服务，当威廉下班后她会亲自为他下厨。
　　To wed a Windsor10 is to marry an institution and she cannot forget that William is a prince before he is a husband. But the Royal Family knows it has struck gold11 with the former Kate Middleton. Since her marriage and ennoblement as the Duchess of Cambridge, she has proved to be everything they could have hoped for.
　　From the moment Kate stepped out on that windy February day in Anglesey with William at her side for their first official engagement, she has been charming everyone she meets. This is the most essential part of royal life and comes to her naturally. Whether she is meeting ordinary people in the street or heads of state at functions, Kate is to the manner born.12
　　The newlyweds’ first official duty as Duke and Duchess was to meet Barack Obama and his wife Michelle during the US leader’s state visit in May, 2011. Kate and William had just returned from their Seychelles honeymoon and for 20 minutes they chatted with the President and the First Lady in the opulent setting of the 1844 room at Buckingham Palace. Despite the grandeur of the occasion, Kate choose to wear a ?175 dress from Reiss–but she is stylish enough to be able to wear something simple and still make it look a million dollars.
　　Detail is where Kate excels. Whether in high-street outfits or couture frocks, she always looks immaculate, ignoring criticism from those in the fashion press who want her to look more modern.13 She trusts her instincts but is highly organised: every outfit is carefully planned, however casual it might appear (she makes the perfect foil for her slightly disorganised husband, gently chiding him to do things before they pile up and become stressful).
　　嫁到皇室就等于嫁给一个身份，她在把威廉当成丈夫前首先要记得他是一位王子。不过英国皇室知道遇到这位之前的凯特·米德尔顿他们也非常幸运。自从她大婚并被封为剑桥公爵夫人以后，她的表现完全符合他们的预期。
　　从凯特在那个二月的大风天和威廉因为他们的第一次正式约会在安格尔西岛上并肩前行的那一刻开始，她就深深地吸引着所有遇见她的人。这是王室生活最重要的部分，而凯特对此表现得极其自然。无论是在街头遇到普通人，还是在盛大的典礼上会见国家元首，凯特有着与生俱来的应对能力。
　　作为公爵和公爵夫人，这对新婚夫妇的第一项正式公务是在美国元首2011年5月的国事访问期间会见巴拉克·奥巴马及其夫人米歇尔。凯特和威廉刚从塞舌尔群岛度完蜜月回来就和这位总统和第一夫人在白金汉宫布置华丽的1844室交谈了20分钟。尽管出席的是十分庄重的场合，凯特还是选择身着一套价值仅为175英镑的蕊丝连衣裙，但她的品位足够将一件普通的衣服穿得仿佛价值千金。
　　凯特胜在注重细节，无论是街上买来的衣服，还是设计师专门设计的礼服，她都能完美展现，毫不理会那些想让她看上去更时髦的时尚刊物的吹毛求疵。她相信自己的直觉，但也相当有条理：每一身衣服都经过精心安排，尽管她看上去穿得十分随意（她很好地反衬了她略微缺乏条理的丈夫，她温和地劝诫他在事情堆积如山和形势紧张前就开始着手处理）。
　　When the royal couple made their first official overseas visit, to Canada last June, Kate was on view every minute, the only breaks coming on the plane trips. Ten days of engagements–up to five of them a day–meant countless changes of outfit. Yet Kate shone every time, without even the help of a dresser.
　　Then it was on to California with a large metal travelling wardrobe, packed with outfits to wow the Hollywood glitterati14, who turned out in force. And despite the likes of Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Lopez, Nicole Kidman and Barbra Streisand, all eyes were on Kate in a lavender15 Alexander McQueen gown.
　　Though a triumph, the American visit was anything but a holiday. Kate has quickly learned that royal life is hard work, and that the Windsors are never off duty. At the opera or a concert, it’s a case of stifling the yawns and sitting still to the end. On Sundays in a royal residence, she will have to be down for breakfast at 8:30 am, no matter how much she longs to sleep in; in church by 11 am and back for drinks at 12:30 am.
　　When Prince William leaves for his duties, she misses him but she doesn’t flounder16 without him. She has learned a lot of lessons in the past year and one of the most important is that royal life is full of separations.
　　Since Kate said her vows on April 29 last year–and without losing herself in the process–she has proved herself to be the perfect royal princess. S
　　去年六月末对加拿大的访问是这对王室夫妇的第一次正式海外访问，凯特每时每刻都接受着各种目光的考验，仅有的间歇就是在飞行途中。十天的会见活动，有时一天要出席多达五项活动，意味着要换无数套行头。然而，即便没有服装师的帮助，凯特每次都能光彩夺目地出现在世人面前。
　　之后二人访问加利福尼亚州，他们随行带着一个金属旅行衣柜，里面装满了各种引得大批好莱坞影视名流赞赏的服饰。尽管有像瑞茜·威瑟斯庞、詹妮弗·洛佩兹、妮可·基德曼和芭芭拉·史翠珊这样抢眼的明星，大家的目光还是落在了这位身着亚历山大·麦克奎恩设计的淡紫色晚礼服的凯特身上。
　　尽管凯特获得了成功，然而那次美国之行却绝然不是一次度假之旅。凯特很快意识到皇室生活是一项多么繁重的工作，而皇室成员也从来不会有休闲时间。在欣赏歌剧或是音乐会时，要抑制住自己伸懒腰的冲动，并一直端坐到最后。周日在皇室居所里，不论她多想再睡一会儿，也要在八点半准时去吃早餐，11点在教堂出现，12点半回来饮用酒水。
　　当威廉王子外出公干时，尽管她很想念他，但并没为此而纠结不已。在过去的一年里她学到了很多，其中最重要的一点就是皇室生活充满了别离。
　　自凯特于去年4月29日说出她的结婚誓言以后，她没有让自己迷失于此，并证明了自己是一位完美的王妃。S