Barack Obama is on it. As are Hillary Clinton, Angela Merkel and Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the IMF. And now the sisters who gave us that stellar royal wedding moment have joined the ranks of Time magazine’s most influential people. One year after millions of people watched Kate Middleton and her sister Pippa glide into Westminster Abbey, they have been included on the prestigious 2012 list.
The striking siblings are described as “avatars of aspiration”; Kate for her meteoric rise to royalty, and Pippa for being “globally recognised, especially from behind”.Just a handful of Brits made it onto this year’s list. Among them was Sarah Burton, the creator of Kate’s wedding dress. Sarah’s citation, written by Sarah Jessica Parker, said she “did the undoable” by designing a dress that lived up to “an impossible dream”. Award-winning singer Adele and actress Tilda Swinton also made the cut.
Noticeably absent were Prime Minister David Cameron and David Beckham, who have both previously featured. Prince William and the rest of the royal family failed to get a mention.
Catherine Mayer is the Europe editor of Time, who was part of the team that helped decide on the final list. She said: “The proportion of women to men has risen this year and that is as a result of a deliberate editorial policy. "The Middleton sisters are jointly on the list and the thinking behind that is that they have gone from obscurity to being among the most pictured women in the world.“They say almost nothing so what we are talking about here is a particular kind of influence.“It’s an influence through imagery but in the world we live in, it’s incredibly potent."
Some of Time magazine's most inflencial people of 2012
- President Barack Obama
- German leader Angela Merkel
- Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan
- Hillary Clinton
- Billionaire investor and philanthropist Warren Buffet
- Apple CEO Tim Cook
- Samira Ibrahim, an Egyptian human rights activist
- Afghanistani women's rights advocate Maryam Durani
- Indian HIV prevention campaigner Anjali Gopalan
- The Duchess of Cambridge, and Pippa Middleton
- Lionel Messi, football player of the year
- Tennis champion Novak Djokovic
- Adele
- Rihanna
- Sarah Burton
- Tilda Swinton
- Claire Danes
- US comedian Chelsea Handler
- Viola Davis
- Internet hackers Anonymous