Prince William and Kate Middleton are 'stepping up more than ever before' in the Queen's absence

Prince William and Kate Middleton have been working hard during the lockdown, making video calls to students and teachers and writing heartwarming letters to charities.

According to one insider, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are taking on more royal duties as the Queen 'cannot go on forever'.

Royal expert Katie Nicholl believes that the couple are showing their support to those on the frontline saving lives during the coronavirus outbreak in order to 'step up'.

The Queen is currently isolating at Windsor Castle with Prince Philip and a skeleton staff, and William admitted he was 'worried' about his grandparents as the monarch is set to take an extended leave of absence.

Katie Nicholl told ET: 'The Palace is keen to play down rumours of the Queen retiring or even scaling back. But the reality is that we have seen Prince Charles and the Cambridges stepping up to the plate more now than ever before.'

She continued: 'We're seeing them letting their guard down and that is a result of what we are going through. We are a nation in the middle of a crisis and it's times like this we turn to the royal family for support, comfort and hope.

'And, I think the Cambridges have really stepped up to the plate providing a nice dose of entertainment for us, and of course it’s a real treat for royal fans seeing so much of the Cambridge children.

'It’s uplifting for Britain, particularly for royalists, to see what the future of the royal family is going to look like. The royal family has gone to great lengths not to be seen to be aloof or distant or unrelatable.

'The queen is very aware that the role of the royal family during a national crisis like this is to be seen, to be able to support her people, and she's having to do this through a digital platform and it's quite incredible that at the age of 94, she's embracing that.'

The palace is yet to comment.