Prince William and Kate Middleton “Don’t See Life as a Competition” With Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

From making a red-carpet appearance with Tom Cruise to visiting Belfast, Prince William and Kate Middleton have been busy in recent weeks.

Sources close to the royal couple say that their “packed” schedule is expected to culminate with Princess Kate joining William when he travels to India next month for the sixth Earthshot awards ceremony in Mumbai.

Although Kensington Palace has yet to officially announce her attendance, royals biographer Russell Myers says this marks a significant milestone for the couple, who have made a point of attending engagements together in recent weeks.

“William and Catherine have quietly supported each other away from their public life over the last couple of years due to Catherine’s health crises and the king’s health woes, but what they have really missed is supporting each other in public. Now we are seeing a return to that,” he tells Vanity Fair.

According to sources, more joint engagements are being planned for later this year, but the visit to India will serve as both an indication that Kate is in good health following her recent cancer scare and a reminder of the important diplomatic role the Prince and Princess of Wales play on the world stage.

“The palace and Foreign Office are planning various official engagements while the couple are in [India], highlighting the prince and princess’s soft-power roles. The British government will see this as a chance to secure some form of diplomacy, and they will be doing other engagements outside of Earthshot,” says Myers, author of William & Catherine: The Intimate Inside Story.

The pair’s return to joint engagements coincides with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s return to the UK, fueling speculation that William and Kate are keen to underline the importance of their public work and promote their causes.

“It’s no coincidence that William and Catherine are doing more together. They want their roles to be very clearly separate from what Harry and Meghan are doing, and the brief from them is to stay focused on their work and causes and not be distracted by anything else,” says an insider. “They are making their presence felt and at a time when it matters.”

While Harry and Meghan have returned to the UK, they are not working royals—a distinction made clear when a letter sent on behalf of King Charles reiterated their status as private individuals rather than working representatives of the crown.

However, Harry and Meghan appear set on being seen as public figures, and on Thursday, they will carry out engagements in Nottingham. They will visit three charities that support young people and local communities.