Princess Kate is no "Stepford Wife," her biographer has claimed, dubbing the description as "really wrong" in a new television interview.
Robert Jobson, who has authored the newly released book Catherine, The Princess of Wales,told Australian morning show Sunrise on Wednesday that the royal is a "great role model" who is more of a "solution finder" than someone who "creates problems."
Speaking to anchors Matt Shirvington and Natalie Barr, Jobson reflected on Kate's time in the public eye and the criticism she receives.
"She was wrongly dubbed a 'Stepford Wife' in the past, which was really wrong because she's able to do so many things," he said in reference to the robot-like serial housewives in the 1972 novel The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin. The term has been adopted into common parlance and is often used as a derogative term to describe women.
"She's focusing so hard on the things that she does for young kids and the work supporting the king and Prince William but also she's a young woman," Jobson said.
"She's got a young family. She wants to spend a lot of time devoted to them with the three young children as well as supporting William, so I think she's a great role model in the way she does what she does. She is not I think someone who wants to cause dramas, she gets on with the job in hand. She's a solution finder really, rather than someone that creates problems."
Newsweek approached Kensington Palace via email for comment.
Kate was embroiled in a "Stepford Wife" drama in November 2023 after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle biographer, Omid Scobie, described her as "Stepford Wife-like" in his book about the state of the monarchy in the modern age, titled Endgame.
The book became the focus of an international controversy after a foreign language edition of the text appeared to name two royals at the center of the royal race row over comments allegedly made about the skin color of Harry and Meghan's unborn children prior to Prince Archie's birth in 2019.
Scobie denied having included the names in his text, which only appeared in the Dutch translation of the print run.
During an interview with U.K. TV show, This Morning, after the book's publication he was asked about his "Stepford Wife" comment about Kate, with anchor Craig Doyle labeling it "offensive."
"It said 'Stepford Wife-like,'" Scobie clarified.
"I think that the whole section of the book, if you read it in detail talks about that A) she's never puts a step wrong, but also that the role does require that kind of stately detachment and, and it compared her to the queen in a very favorable way, actually. But of course, if you compare that to say, everyday folk, there is a very reserved, almost Stepford-like approach to the position."
At the time of its release, Kensington Palace did not publicly comment on the book or Scobie's claims.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
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