Princess Kate has been the popular face of the royal family. What now?

How the furor around Kate Middleton's edited family photo is damaging the image of the royal couple.

LONDON — Though she is formally known as Catherine, the Princess of Wales, for millions worldwide she will always just be Kate Middleton: The English commoner who married a prince and whose elegant but accessible image has cemented her as Britain’s favorite royal.

That’s why the saga around her unexplained surgery and subsequent altered family photo has been so damaging for this ancient institution, commentators say. Particularly coming at a time when the royals find themselves short of headline acts, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the recent cancer diagnosis of King Charles III, and with Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, living in California.

Until her leave of absence, Kate had been picking up the slack, both a reliable royal foot soldier and someone able to bring star power to even the most mundane ribbon-cutting event. And Kate and her husband, William, the Prince of Wales, had largely navigated their desire for privacy with their growing public duties once he became heir to the throne.

“William and Kate are individually extremely popular — they are the two most popular members of the royal family,” NBC News royal commentator Daisy McAndrew said. “Kate, even more than William, has always had this can-do-no-wrong reputation, so for her to be criticized will be tough for the royal family to swallow.”

Kate, the Princess of Wales, during the coronation of King Charles in London.Odd Andersen / AFP via Getty Images fileThough Charles is king and William is his heir, it is Kate — the future queen — who regularly polls as the nation’s favorite member of this birthright clan.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/kate-popular-face-royal-family-now-rcna143349

---