The future of the British monarchy rests on the “slim shoulders” of Kate Middleton, according to author Tina Brown.
Brown, whose new book on the royals, “The Palace Papers,” drops today, believes the royal family would fall apart if it weren’t for the Duchess of Cambridge.
“If for any reason, she thought like Meghan, ‘I’m out of here, I can do much better,’ it would be a disaster,” Brown told The Post in an exclusive interview.
“It would, I think, crumble at the moment without her because she’s the only modern, beautiful woman who’s well-educated, substantial in herself, who’s actually wanting to commit herself to the rigors of this institution. Not many young women could do that.”
Brown said that Kate required “a lot of care and strategy to end up married to William.”
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“They were madly in love all the way through but … making it from the loving girlfriend to the future queen, that’s an obstacle course. And it’s like snakes and ladders. At any moment she could have stepped on the wrong square and had a snake.”
Brown believes Middleton’s mother Carole was “very critical in that. Her mother helped her avoid the snakes on the board.”
She also praises William for picking Kate as his partner, saying he was smart to wait for 10 years before proposing.
“He was absolutely sure she could handle it before they married,” Brown said. “She was trained. Nobody was deluded like Meghan was, it seems.”
Although Brown delves into Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s “mutual addiction drama” she notes that the former “Suits” star seems to get the lion’s share of the blame for the couple leaving the royal family.
“I do think it’s wrongly called Megxit,” Brown noted. “He wanted out and she enabled him to do what he wanted. She was strong enough to say, ‘You know what? You want out. I can make it happen.’”
“He’s shown ever since that he absolutely hates that whole life, doesn’t like it,” she continued. “If not but for Meghan he wouldn’t have found a way out because he basically was a man who had everything done for him all of his life. He had never carved a life for himself. Meghan was very much a self-starter, a self-made successful woman. She knew who to call at Netflix. He wasn’t worldly like Meghan was worldly.
“They wanted to be global. If you want to be a global humanitarian superstar it’s going to take cash and that’s not going to be the same kind of money where you can live comfortably in Norfolk.”
Brown also believes that despite what people might think of him, Charles will become a “good king.”
“I actually think he’s going to come into his own when he becomes king,” she predicted, noting that his long-held beliefs about the environment and organic farming were once seen as kooky but are now mainstream.
“He’s very authentic. He’s always had his eccentric passions but he’s also been very prescient, very ahead of the curve. He’s no longer seen as cranky, he’s seen as correct.
“He’s going to become king when everyone’s belief in his ideas has come around full circle,” she continued. “He’s going to be a very authentic voice and probably a very powerful voice as a global leader in the climate change issue.”
She is also a fan of Charles’ wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall.
“I think she’s tough, she’s stoic, she’s got a sense of humor,” Brown explained. “I think she’s a really undersung character. And you know she’s never said a damn word about her relationship with Charles. She’s never complained.”
“She’s always said the family motto is ‘Thou shalt not whine,’ and she hasn’t whined. Oh, my god. Talk about bad press. [She’s been] called everything from a ‘hag’ to ‘horse-face’ to ‘a witch.’ She’s had the most appalling things said about her, but she never complains. Again, it’s very English. She just takes it on the chin.”
Interestingly, Brown believes that Harry’s decision to step away from the royal family has brought William and Charles closer together.
“Harry going has made them inevitably closer, which is ironic because Charles was much closer to Harry. They had a very warm relationship,” she said. “It’s very upsetting to Charles apparently. He’s been distraught about the fraying of the relationship. He’s been very, very sad. He’s been very hurt by Harry.”
“There has been tension between William and Charles because the fact is Charles feels competitive with William. William has been OK with Camilla, but there was obviously an overhang from the past,” she said. “He’s much closer to Charles now because essentially they’re together now trying to figure out what happens after the queen dies.”
Prince Andrew is clearly not Brown’s favorite. She dismisses him as an “oaf,” an “idiot” with “limited intelligence” and, given his infamous friendship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, having “the most appalling taste in women.”
“The Diana Chronicles” author says the main thing that struck her while researching her book was just how hard and mind-numbingly boring royal life can be.
“When you really dig into what it’s like to live that life, … [the] diary of things that you don’t really want to do, day and night, it’s pretty daunting to see what it actually really means,” she said.
“It’s a bit like the secular version of taking the veil. It’s a commitment. As Queen Mary memorably said, ‘We’re the royal family. We’re never tired and we love hospitals and that’s essentially it.’”