Welcome to another perfectly normal day on Normal Island, previously known as the United Kingdom. The once-sturdy British monarchy now resembles a teetering house of cards, with its various members either seriously ill, exiled overseas, too ancient, or too Prince Andrew.
In some ways it’s been a quiet year, with the King and Kate Middleton ducking out of the limelight as they battle cancer. Of course, this hasn’t stopped wild speculation building on what’s actually going on behind the scenes. Now eyebrows have been raised with the official announcement that King Charles is using his Royal power to make his daughter-in-law an official “Royal companion”.
So, what is a Royal companion, and is it some messed up Game of Thrones-style thing?
The Royal Companions of the Order of the Companions of Honour
Despite sounding suspiciously made up, the The Royal Companions of the Order of the Companions of Honour is indeed an actual thing. It was founded in 1917 by King George V as a reward for outstanding achievement in the field of excellence. Initially intended as a decoration for soldiers who distinguished themselves in World War I, it’s now awarded to those the King decides has had “a major contribution to the arts, science, medicine, or government lasting over a long period of time”.
There are 65 members in total, with current members of note including nature broadcaster David Attenborough, The Lord of the Rings icon Ian McKellen, Harry Potter star Maggie Smith, former Beatle Paul McCartney, and The Handmaid’s Tale author Margaret Atwood.
Those are all pretty sizeable cultural icons, so what has Kate Middleton done to join their esteemed ranks? Well.. uh.. not much.
Kate is the first member of the Royal family to be made a member of this Order, apparently simply for being patron of the National Portrait Gallery, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the Royal Photographic Society. It’s an odd decision to make Kate a member and people are baffled:
At least we know she’s not getting rewarded for her Photoshop skills:
Maybe Kate is making artistic and scientific breakthroughs in secret?
As usual, Royal chess pieces are being moved behind the scenes of Buckingham Palace by officials for reasons we’re not privy to. But, for now, we’re going to have to leave this headscratcher to the wild conspiracy theorists to puzzle over. Maybe we’ll get some actual reasons for her appointment soon, but until then we can but speculate.
