Kate Should Learn From Diana's Mistakes — Couric

A week before Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding, CBS's Katie Couric drew the inevitable comparison between the bride-to-be and the late Princess Diana — and it came with a personal anecdote.

On CBS's Early Show on Friday, April 22, 2011, Couric — who had reported extensively on Diana — recalled sitting two seats away from the princess at a Chicago charity luncheon years earlier. When Couric remarked that the constant meet-and-greet must be exhausting, Diana replied she was excited to go home — to an empty house. Couric said the sadness of that answer had stayed with her.

Diana, Couric said, had led "a tortured life" in many ways and was unprepared for the pressures of her role. Kate, by contrast, seemed "much more grounded." The numbers favored that reading: Diana had just turned 20 when she married; Kate was 29, with a long courtship behind her — time, Couric suggested, that let her acclimate to the scrutiny in a way Diana never could. The press's "Waity Katie" nickname, she added, was really just evidence that William was being careful about the weight of what he was asking.

On Kate's style, Couric said she was "taking a page out of Michelle Obama's book" — mixing high fashion with off-the-rack pieces, wearing suits she'd had in her closet for years. "She exudes class, in the right way, without being a snob about it."

Couric closed with genuine empathy for the bride: stepping into the center of world attention is a hard thing, and she felt for her.

Reporting: CBS News, The Early Show.