Prince William spent months guest-editing the current issue of Country Life. I imagine it took so long because people had to read aloud to William so he could follow along. Even William’s loyal supporters say that the man barely reads his briefing papers and prefers oral briefings. Well, guest-editor Bill scored a big “get” for the magazine: an interview with his wife, the Princess of Wales. William did not conduct the interview, but it sounds like Kensington Palace’s crack team of courtiers gave Kate some nature-focused talking points.

The Princess of Wales has spoken about her recovery from cancer, and finding solace in nature, in a rare magazine interview. Kate Middleton spoke to author Robert Macfarlane for a special issue of Country Life magazine, guest-edited by her husband, reports the Express.

The princess described how nature “doesn’t judge us or expect us to perform”, and echoing remarks she made previously about her cancer journey, she said: “I was told in hospital that my recovery would not be linear. There will be good days and bad days; it will take time. This is the same in nature. It shows us that periods of rest, reflection and renewal are equally as important as moments of growth.”

The future queen said: “It doesn’t ask anything of us. It doesn’t judge us or expect us to perform. It simply allows us to be. It really has been my sanctuary and a place I’ve instinctively wanted to go.”

Asked by Macfarlane where she finds hope, Kate candidly replied that she finds it in the lessons taught by nature: “that, despite the challenges life may throw at us, we are not alone and that we’re interconnected with something bigger than ourselves”.

The writer told the princess he found hope in watching communities help protect rivers, as part of their discussion for the magazine’s special bumper issue, which was published on Wednesday.

Kate replied: “I couldn’t agree more. It is the sense of hope we find in the darkest of times. We need to find the things that we can do alongside others, ways to connect and give back.”

The princess also praised Mind Over Mountains, a charity offering professional mental fitness support by combining nature walks, mindfulness, and time with experienced wellbeing counsellors. The princess has long championed the importance of spending time outdoors, especially for children, as part of her work on early childhood development.

Her love of nature, she explained during the interview, started in childhood when she would spend time playing in streams, blackberry picking or “simply time alone in my own world, enjoying the simplicity of ordinary things” and how she felt a sense of freedom “that is hard to find elsewhere”.

Kate also described how she parents her own children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. “It is something I remind myself to do with my own children; to give them freedom to explore, rather than constantly telling them what to see or what to think”, she said.

[From Yahoo]

I don’t disagree with anything Kate says here – being in nature is healing, meditative, freeing, reflective. I feel the same way, and I think it’s important that kids have outdoor spaces to run around and have adventures and be free. But Kate’s whole thing is “nature for me and my kids and no one else.” She and William literally hijacked hundreds of acres of public parkland. They literally shut down a nature center in Windsor. Kate *barely* works with any of the get-back-to-nature charities in the UK. People have really memory-holed the fact that Kate bizarrely blew through a lot of money to create “seasonal videos” celebrating nature too.

Photos/screencaps courtesy of Kensington Palace.