Kate Middleton is reportedly quite proud of her husband Prince William and his historic appearance on the cover of Attitude, the UK’s leading gay magazine. It’s easy to imagine that his mother Prince Diana would also be delighted with her eldest son’s outreach to the LGBT community.
You may recall that Princess Diana shattered stereotypes and addressed fears when she visited HIV/AIDS patients in hospital and was photographed, in 1987, shaking hands with an HIV-positive man. That changed a lot of minds and made great inroads in HIV education and tolerance.
It seems the lessons the princes learned at Princess Diana’s knee have carried on years after they lost their mum. Kate Middleton, Prince William and Prince Harry have all adopted the cause of mental health, bullying and now have added LGBT concerns to their roster of pet causes.
Princess Diana was the first royal to interact with AIDS patients and her work initially met resistance from Queen Elizabeth and Kensington Palace, but the Princess of Wales persisted and blazed a trail that her sons seem to be continuing down.
Prince William just didn’t appear for a cover shoot for Attitude Magazine – he took the time to meet with a group of LGBT+ representatives at Kensington Palace and they discussed the impact on mental health of bullying, homophobic, bi-phobic and transphobic behaviors.
The Duke of Cambridge said, “No one should be bullied for their sexuality or any other reason and no one should have to put up with the kind of hate that these young people have endured in their lives… You should be proud of the person you are and you have nothing to be ashamed of.”
The Duke sat for his interview more than a month ago and the timing of the release of the royal cover of Attitude was coincidental to the tragic terrorist attack at gay nightclub pulse in Orlando, Florida this past weekend and the Cambridges are addressing that as well.
Shortly after the attack, Kate Middleton and Prince William signed a book of condolence for the victims of the Orlando terror shooting. Arianne Chernock, a British history professor, said that Prince William’s appearance on the magazine cover is “pushing the envelope further than we’ve seen before.”
Chernock added that Kate Middleton, Prince William, and Prince Harry are “building on Diana who really championed the other causes people didn’t want to touch.” In the case of AIDS patients, that was quite literal. By simply shaking the hand of a man with HIV, Diana changed perceptions in an instant.
Many of the appearances made by the younger royals are simply pomp and circumstance, but the work and awareness Kate Middleton, Prince Harry, and Prince William are doing with youth mental health, bullying, cyberbullying, and LGBT issues is where they’re changing lives.
Check out the video below to see Prince William meeting with members of the UK LGBT+ community and Attitude magazine. The Cambridges have also set up a cyberbullying taskforce to address online negativity and other mental health and outreach initiatives.
