Here are more photos of the Duchess of Cambridge at RHS Wisley, where she was premiering her latest iteration of her Back to Nature garden. I think it’s possibly found a permanent home there, with some updates. Kate seemed very relaxed at this event, and it definitely feels like she been more relaxed, in general, at public events for more than a year now. Even though the Keen fans yell at me for daring to talk about both duchesses in the same story, it’s crystal clear that Kate’s growth and comfort within her public role happened as soon as she had “competition.”

Which brings me to this – not only did Kate play with kids (she was really cute with a lot of the babies and little kiddos), but she also made a speech. It was just a variation on the public remarks she’s been making about her garden for months. But because we are in the Brave New Keen Era of royalty, everything Kate does must be praised to the hilt. Royal reporter Emily Andrews tweeted this about Kate’s RHS Wisley speech: “I was really struck by how much more confident Kate is at public speaking. Today’s engagement was very her, and she was in her relaxed element, but I remember when her elocution lessons left her with strangled vowels & v nervous delivery. Lovely job today.” Ah, so we’re blaming her terrible public speaking for seven years on “failed elocution lessons,” huh? It’s weird that suddenly those terrifying elocution lessons left her nearly voiceless for seven years and then suddenly she was super-comfortable with public speaking… as soon as Meghan came around.

For what it’s worth, she has genuinely gotten better at public speaking.

Video: Kate made a speech about how it takes “a village to raise a child” and thanked @RHSWisley for asking her to design a garden for them. pic.twitter.com/Nd9ek3rxkl

— Emily Andrews (@byEmilyAndrews) September 10, 2019

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.