Kate and William photo shows striking new reality of King’s big upgrade

As the future King and Queen the Waleses have been upgraded to a more significant role as royal representatives overseas.

Kate, Princess of Wales and Prince William have been officially upgraded as working royals as, for the first time ever, they were called on to represent the British monarchy at a major royal foreign event. On Thursday, Kate and William attended the wedding of Crown Prince Hussein and now-Princess Rajwa of Jordan in Amman, alongside royals from across the world including Japan, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Royal expert Daniela Elser pointed out that in years gone by this sort of duty would have been taken up by King Charles when he was still Prince of Wales, but Kate and William have not taken on such a position before.

Ms Elser wrote: “‘Waleses go to wedding’ might not sound like some big exciting milestone moment and before you think all the sequins of Kate’s Barbiecore gown have addled my brain, this wedding is the very first time that they have ever been called up to represent the sovereign at a major foreign royal event. “While the duo has been jetting off to do energetic Union Jack-waving around the world since 2011, they were never asked by the late Queen to stand in for her at this sort of official regal gathering.

“In the royal world, assuming this sort of responsibility constitutes a step up in the Waleses’ royal careers.” She also added that given the reduced number of working royals under the age of 70, as the Sussexes and Prince Andrew have stepped down from such duties, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh have also been called upon to undertake increasing royal duties abroad.

So far this year Prince Edward has already travelled to Germany, Canada and the US while Sophie paid a significant visit to Iraq last month for her ongoing charity work in the fields of female empowerment and tackling sexual violence.