While Kate Middleton has stepped back from public-facing royal duties to undergo cancer treatment in privacy, her team is transforming behind the scenes.
The Princess of Wales quietly promoted her longtime stylist, Natasha Archer, to the role of "senior private executive assistant." MailOnline was first to report the shift in Middleton's inner circle.
Archer has worked for Princess Kate since 2007, when she was hired as a personal assistant. Over time, her role expanded to encompass a responsibility the entire world could see: dressing one of the most recognizable people on the planet for her public appearances. Archer's promotion "has been interpreted in Royal circles as a reward for her loyalty," the Mail says.
Loyalty and trust are the cornerstones of any strong stylist-client (and friend) relationship. From Law Roach and Zendaya to Jamie Mizrahi and Meghan Markle, stylists fine-tune the way their employers or clients communicate without saying a word. When millions of people are going to see an outfit, they're going to extract meaning from it; these stylists choose pieces that can tell the right story for the right moment.
The styling stakes were more heightened in Natasha Archer's case. Over more than a decade of working with Kate Middleton, Archer has shaped Middleton's visual language for representing the monarchy at every level of event and engagement. Together, they established Kate as a polished and elegant dresser, favoring British designers like Alexander McQueen, Emilia Wickstead, and Erdem for formal engagements. Most of their work together has unfolded behind closed doors, letting their work do the talking when it's photographed. Other than a few sightings of Archer on the tarmac for royal visits, she isn't often photographed with the Princess.
The logic follows that Archer has also been responsible for boosting several designers' and independent brands' profiles by incorporating them into Princess Kate's wardrobe. Labels from affordable luxury handbag brand Strathberry to the gothic chic Vampire's Wife were popularized by placements in the royal's outfits for walkabout tours, holiday services, and official state visits.
The shape and scope of Archer's new role has not yet been publicized. (In fact, her title change was only discovered after the Mail's reporter found it on LinkedIn, the business networking platform.) All a royal source has shared for now is that, "Natasha deserves this boost—she's unfailingly discreet and loyal to Kate."
Archer and Princess Kate have been "inseparable" since the royal's cancer diagnosis, and she has even accompanied Kate to and from treatment appointments.
Princess Kate made her last in-person appearance for a Christmas Day service in 2023. Months later, the royal shared she was stepping back from her formal duties in light of her cancer diagnosis.
As Kate has privately undergone treatment, royal watchers have wondered when and if she will appear in public again. Some sources claimed she would make a surprise balcony visit to June 15's annual Trooping the Colour festivities, but those reports have since been debunked.
For now, Princess Kate, the recently promoted Archer, and the rest of her team are reportedly preparing for her return to royal life after she completes her cancer treatments. Together, they are "reevaluating what she’s going to be able to take on when she comes back," a source said last week. “She may never come back in the role that people saw her in before.”
