Duchess of Cambridge Getting Tutorials on Royal Life

Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, is about to learn what it takes to be a princess.

The Duchess is set to undergo a royal education with private tutorials with senior civic leaders to help train and prepare her for public duties. The tutorials, which will take place at St. James Palace, will include experts to teach her about the establishment she will one day represent, The Daily Mail reported.

The Duchess is being briefed on how the State works, getting to know our national institutions better and learning more about organizations such as the arts, the media and the government, a royal source told The Telegraph. It is a process that will carry on for several months, but is being done privately.

Since her wedding to Prince William in April, the Duchess has had a relatively light schedule of official duties. In July, she and William toured the U.S. and Canada; they also visited areas of Birmingham hit hard by rioting last month.

Most of [Kate's training] is on the job, through engagements, and from her husband and his family, the Palace source told Us Weekly. What The Duchess is doing now is using time to get to know institutions and charities so she can determine a path for her to follow when she begins public work.

Next week she and William will open a children's center at the Royal Marsden cancer hospital in Sutton, Surrey, of which the William is president. William will unveil a plaque to officially open the center before he and Kate meet hospital staff, key donors and fundraisers.

Middleton's tutorials are expected to last through the end of the year. After that, her official schedule will be ramped up for 2012. Most of those engagements are likely to be solo, as her husband deploys to the Falkland Island with his Royal Air Force Search and Rescue squadron next year, and families are not permitted to join.