Welcome to Mothership: Parenting stories you actually want to read, whether you're thinking about or passing on kids, from egg-freezing to taking home baby and beyond. Because motherhood is a big if — not when — and it's time we talked about it that way.
You know how it is when you're excited to attend a fancy wedding. You image yourself crying as your favorite person walks down the aisle, you're wearing your best clothes, and you're looking forward to the open bar at the reception (arguably the best part of any wedding). But what if you found out that you've been tasked with being the official kid-wrangler for the day? Yes, that is everyone's worst nightmare — having to watch over multiple small children at a fancy event and make sure they get to their places on time and no one spills chocolate on their expensive white shirts.
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Most of us would want to rip our hair out if tasked with what essentially amounts to herding cats. But that's because we are not Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge. Kate was not part of the bridal party at her sister, Pippa Middleton's, wedding to James Matthews, due to a tangled web of wedding etiquette when royals are involved, but she did have the very important role of being the official mom for all the children in the party. She handled the whole thing with grace and aplomb because she is a duchess, after all. She looked radiant in her pink Alexander McQueen dress and used her grade 'A' momming skills — the ones she acquired through years of escorting small humans to fancy, high-profile events — to ensure that the gaggle of children behaved themselves, including her children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
Just because Duchess Kate looked the part of the royal wedding guest doesn't mean she wasn't dead serious about making sure the kids were on their best behavior. At one point, she could be seen bending down to scold George, who cried after getting in trouble. On the way into the church, she shushed the mess of kids.
She mostly kept it together, only slipping when one of the page boys decided to get cheeky and flip the British version of the bird to the camera. Behind him, the Duchess looks ready to Hulk smash, and the internet is loving it because it's evidence that Kate, like the rest of us, is only human.
What a relief that even the Duchess of Cambridge is a mom who loses it now and then, just like everyone else.