On Monday, Kate Middleton was photographed for the first time since Christmas as she drove alongside her mother, Carole Middleton, near her home in Windsor. Even though the Princess of Wales has been taking time off from her royal duties after a planned abdominal surgery on January 16 and a subsequent 13-day hospitalization, affairs at Kensington Palace have continued apace. Vanity Fair can confirm that Lieutenant Colonel Tom White has joined the staff as the princess’s new private secretary, filling a role that has been vacant since her longtime aide, Hannah Cockburn-Logie, left the palace in 2022.

After a long and decorated military career, White joined the palace as an equerry to the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2020, a role he kept until her death in September 2022. As equerry, he was by the queen’s side for most public events. The Telegraph first reported that White was in the running for the role last November, when he was invited to join Kate during an upcoming engagement. 

In Kate’s absence, plenty of her charities are still carrying out their day-to-day duties. In addition to promoting Shaping Up, the initiative the princess launched in January 2023 that highlights the importance of early childhood development, the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood has continued to host stakeholder meetings at Kensington Palace. On Friday, the charity’s director Christian Guy met with a group that included Gudni Th. Jóhannesson, the president of Iceland, to discuss their work during his recent visit to the UK. “The President has a keen interest in the importance of early childhood development, so it was a pleasure to share our approach and work to date, hear about his early childhood priorities for Iceland and discuss potential shared challenges and opportunities going forward,” the charity later said on social media.

After a few weeks away from royal duties as Kate recovers, Prince William returned to his public role in a part-time capacity early last month, after King Charles III announced a cancer diagnosis. Over the weekend, The Sunday Times reported that Queen Camilla is taking time off from her royal duties until the Commonwealth Day ceremony on March 11, reducing the number of senior royals who are doing public engagements even further. But despite his outpatient treatment for an unspecified cancer, the king has continued to host government engagements, including meetings of the Privy Council and his weekly conversation with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. On Tuesday, the king hosted Chancellor of Exchequer Jeremy Hunt in the private audience room at Buckingham Palace in advance of tomorrow’s release of the government’s next budget.