Kate Middleton revealed to have made a secret pact just before she married Prince William, and it explains a lot

The Royal family is fractured down the middle, with little hope of a reconciliation at this time. With Prince Harry cutting himself off from his relatives, brother has turned against brother and son has shunned father. It’s a sad state of affairs to observe from the outside, and it must be even more painful to witness for someone like Princess Catherine, aka Kate Middleton, who’s used to a very different form of family life.

As anyone who’s watched The Crown knows, existing within the London tourist’s snowglobe that is being part of the British Royal family creates a lot of pressure and pent-up frustrations, so it’s no surprise that things blew up the way they did for the Duke of Sussex and Meghan Markle. As someone who didn’t grow up in the Royal glare, however, Kate is thankfully from a much tighter family unit, and we’re only just learning the full extent of that now.

Kate Middleton made a promise to her siblings before she married Prince William that she’s never broken to this day

In his new autobiography, Meet Ella: The Dog Who Saved My Life, Kate’s younger brother, James Middleton, reveals what his big sister is really like behind her public face as the Princess of Wales. Described as the “anti-Spare,” Middleton’s book couldn’t be more different from Prince Harry’s own memoir about his relatives, as it paints a picture of a loving family unit who’ve always got each other’s back.

In one touching passage, shared by Us Weekly, James recalls a key moment in Kate’s life from November 2010. The day before her engagement to Prince William was announced, the future princess privately told her brother and middle sibling, Pippa, the big news in a corner of The Old Boot Pub, near their childhood home in Bucklebury, Berkshire. Yes, I know it may sound like a Harry Potter location, but is in fact a real place.

Middleton recalled exactly how the moment transpired in his book:

“Pippa and I want to be visibly excited, but we have to tamp down our emotions so no one suspects a thing,” he writes. “We make a quiet acknowledgment that we’ll always be there for each other, look out for one another, support each other. No matter how crazy things get.”

In an interview with Us Weekly, Middleton confirmed that Kate has stuck to her promise all these years later. “Catherine is very much on a public stage and I’m in awe of a lot of the things she does. I think the thing I’m most proud of is that she’s still the same person that I grew up with,” he gushed.

This private promise between the three Middleton siblings actually makes a lot of sense in the context of recent events. This year has obviously been a tough one for Catherine, following her cancer diagnosis, and her mother, Carole, and Pippa have been described in the press as “her rocks” throughout her treatment. Likewise, James shared a moving social media post about his sister in the spring.

James’ book also reveals that William was closer to Kate’s family than he ever was his own, with the Middletons installing in him a belief in fostering a close-knit relationship with his own kids. As for the Royals, Harry has seen King Charles for a mere 45 minutes in total since he himself was diagnosed with cancer. Maybe the perks of Royal life aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.