On Oct. 15, 2016, Kate Middleton revealed that her grandmother was actually integral to the victory of the Allied Forces in World War II. It turns out that the ancestor of Kate Middleton worked as a codebreaker for Britain.
New York Post stated that Kate Middleton wrote about her grandmother in the foreword of a recently launched puzzle book by GCHW, the Signals Intelligence and Cyber Security agency in the United Kingdom. Kate Middleton mentioned that she was always very proud of her grandmother, Valerie Glassborow, who used to work at Bletchley Park during World War II.
She added that Valerie had a twin sister, Mary, and the two of them served with thousands of other young women as part of the great Allied effort in breaking enemy codes. Kate Middleton continued that her grandmother and her sister rarely talked about their service during the war, but they understand how vital the people of Bletchley Park were. Kate Middleton stated that male and female codebreakers tackled some of the most difficult problems facing the nation at the time.
TIME reported that mathematician Alan Turing also developed the famous Enigma machine that cracked German ciphers at Bletchley Park. Valerie and Mary did not work with Turing, since top-level decryption was deemed a job for men during the Second World War.
Generally, women who worked at Bletchley Park were paid much less compared to the male codebreakers. The women were given low-level clerical jobs, despite their prowess in mathematics. Nevertheless, Kate Middleton's ancestors were reportedly among the first to learn that World War II has ended after intercepting a code that confirmed Japan's nearing surrender.
The puzzle book by GCHW is included in Kate Middleton and Prince William's campaign for mental health, called Heads Together. Kate Middleton stated that the royal family is grateful that the book is supporting their campaign.
She hopes that the project will amuse and challenge readers, as well as promote open discussion on mental health problems. They aim to change the notion on mental health from fear and stigma to openness and understanding.