The many mistakes Meghan Markle made that Kate Middleton avoided

Kate Middleton seems like the boring Duchess but she might just have played us all.

This might sound a bit rude, but I’m going to say it: the Duchess of Cambridge is boring.

She is unquestionably beautiful and charming and produces terrifyingly cute kids who are curiously adept at waving from nearly the moment they pop out of the womb.

But there is no getting around it: Kate is dull.

She is the Duchess of Vanilla with her nude tights and prim hemlines and seemingly endless collection of pastel coat dresses.

From the moment the then 24-year-old Kate appeared at Wills’ Sandhurst graduation in 2006, the first official indication that she was being prepped for royal bridedom, she has played it safe, never putting an LK Bennett nude pump out of line.

Kate has never put a sensibly-clad foot wrong. Picture: Trevor Adams/matrixpictures.co.uk

From her choice of demure and inoffensive frocks from tame designers to the charities she has decided to support (kids! Gardening! Art! — we’re a long way from hugging AIDS patients and walking though landmine fields a la Diana here), Kate has unequivocally chosen to never, ever pop her head above the Buckingham Palace parapet.

Even the clothes she picks out for Prince George, Princess Charlotte and the enigmatic Prince Louis are inoffensive and banally middle England, all knee-socks and smocking.

Her reign as royal wife numero uno has been totally and utterly unimpeded by even the faintest whiff of scandal. The most controversial thing she has ever done is she briefly flirted with a fringe.

The decision made front page news in the UK, so starved were (and are) the tabloids for any semblance of anything bordering on individuality or personality from the future Queen.

Kate has been every inch the future Queen since she first started dating William. Picture: Victoria Jones/WPA Pool/Getty Images

Then we get to her new-ish sister-in-law, the Duchess of Sussex, whose tenure as a Windsor wife has been marked by a series of gaffes and blunders (in the eyes of Palace lackeys, tabloid editors and tut-tutting British royalists at least).

Meghan has voiced opinions, worn black nail polish, hugged strangers, closed her own car door, failed to curtesy properly in the presence of the Queen, reportedly gets up too early for courtiers’ liking, sends too many emails and text messages, and has a lot of ideas about the work she wants to do.

Some might view Meghan’s choices and actions as those of a brash American who has breached the walls of the castle with her yoga mat and dream journal tucked neatly under her arm.

Meghan and Kate are very different people and the press has responded accordingly. Picture: Getty

However, I think there is something admirable about her refusal to censor her sense of style and her ideas in the face of a 1000-year-old institution’s antiquated rule book.

And why shouldn’t she? Meghan didn’t spend her 20s holidaying in Verbier, partying at Mahiki and waiting for her posh boyfriend to propose.

She had jobs, she built a career, she got married and divorced, she starred in Suits. Arriving in Kensington Palace she has never shied away from her desire to make her new “job” her own.

And that’s the issue. Kate has keenly avoided ever betraying any hint of independence and has assiduously toed the middle line with (nearly admirable) rigour.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are expecting their first baby in April. Picture: Trevor Adams/matrixpictures.co.uk

Her studied dullness has ensured a scandal-free royal existence and a constant wave of benevolent enthusiasm for her performance.

Some might call that smart — she is going to be Queen several decades from now. But I’d call it a bit of a sad way for a woman to live her life.

Meghan’s biggest “crime” in the past year has been to stay true to who she is and to take risks. If that price of that is occasionally falling foul of the media and public opinion, I say, long live Meghan’s black nail polish!

Daniela Elser is a freelance writer and contributor, continue the conversation @danielaelser