Because the British royal family has such high standards for decorum, their idea of "losing composure" is much more all-encompassing than most people's. Thus, when the future Princess Catherine was caught taking the bus and forlornly staring out the window, senior royals were aghast. Speaking to the documentary, "William and Kate: Too Good To Be True?" (via YouTube), royal expert, Richard Palmer recalled, "I remember she was photographed on a London bus going down the King's Road. And, to me, it's a historic photo. This is a photo of, probably, someone who is going to be our queen in the future sitting downstairs on the London bus. [The] palace didn't like it."
Indeed, the photograph showed Catherine, not as a perfectly poised royal, but as a normal British girl. A 2005 piece published in the Daily Mail even commented, "Prince William's girlfriend, Kate Middleton, has shown that she is no stranger to the routine of everyday life as she was spotted out and about in London ... catching the Number 19 bus and shopping alone."
Unfortunately, the photo of Catherine taking the bus fueled the flames of the classist conversations about her "suitability" for Prince William. When the pair split up, just a year after the photo was taken, an LA Times piece posited, "Middleton was, sorry to say, way too middle class [for the prince]." Later, it added, "The Middletons weren't royal in-law material."
