The Duchess of Cambridge is moving up in the royal family. Kate Middleton has just been named the patron of the RAF Air Cadets after the Duke of Edinburgh resigned from his role and passed on the torch to the future queen.
After assuming the role as patron for 63 years, Prince Philip made the call to step down and bestow upon Kate her first official royal role with an important link to the armed forces. The 33-year-old beamed as she accepted the title from Philip in front of an audience at Buckingham Palace. As an Honorary Air Commandant of the Air Cadets, Kate will represent 42,000 air cadets aged 12 to 19 and 15,000 adult volunteers at more than 1,200 units across the United Kingdom and around the world.
Air Commodore Dawn McCafferty explained why the duchess will serve them well:
We are absolutely thrilled that Her Royal Highness and the Duchess of Cambridge has agreed to be our patron. Her links to the RAF family are already well-established and her desire to support youth development is well-recognized around the world. We hope that by acting as our Honorary Air Commandant she can see at first hand the amazing work of our adult volunteers who deliver a truly world-class cadet experience to many thousands of young people.
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Kate may seem like an odd choice at first, but her connections to young people can not be denied — she's constantly speaking out on behalf of youth in need and fighting for their rights — and, of course, it doesn't hurt that Prince William served as a RAF search and rescue helicopter pilot. The couple now have even more in common.
This new role simply means Kate's plate is about to become even more full. She has been hard at work these past few months, attending one charity event after another. Here's proof that she has no plans of winding down anytime soon.
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