Princess Catherine, or Kate Middleton as the Duchess is often still referred to, has been nominated for Time magazine’s prestigious Person of the Year for 2024.
First conceived in 1927, Time’s Person of the Year has traditionally showcased a person, group, or concept that had the biggest impact – bad or good – on the world in the last 12-months.
This year, the 10 candidates include current US Vice President Kamala Harris, tech billionaire and Trump’s right hand man, Elon Musk, Russian economist Yulia Navalnaya, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump, and leader of the internet bros – Joe Rogan, just to name a few.
Despite 2024 being the year that Kate Middleton was most notably absent from the spotlight, focussing on her own personal health battle after receiving a cancer diagnosis, Time chose to nominate the Princess for the conversations surrounding her departure from public life.
“The Princess of Wales made international headlines this year and stirred a conversation about privacy and health for public figures,” reads the Time article announcing the candidates.
“In January, Kate Middleton was hospitalized for two weeks for a “planned abdominal surgery” and Kensington Palace said she would be out of the public eye until Easter. But after conspiracy theories circulated online in March about Middleton’s whereabouts, the royal put the rumours to rest by revealing that she had been diagnosed with cancer.”
While Kate Middleton has since returned to the public eye after completing chemotherapy, her remarkable journey was heavily scrutinised by both the public and the media, leading to a flurry of misinformation. What is clear though, is that despite all that, Princess Catherine’s experience highlighted the need for a shift in the collective consciousness regarding how we treat public figures in general.
The Duchess has previously been a runner-up for Person of the Year in 2011, and including in the TIME100 list of Most Influential People in 2013.
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