Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge GCVO (born Catherine Elizabeth Middleton; 9 January 1982), is a member of the British royal family. Her husband, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, is second in the line of succession to the British throne, making Catherine a likely future queen consort.

She grew up in the village of Chapel Row, part of Bucklebury near Newbury in the English county of Berkshire. She studied art history at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, where she met William in 2001. Their engagement was announced in November 2010. They married on 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey. The couple’s children—Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis of Cambridge—are third, fourth, and fifth in the line of succession to the British throne, respectively.

The Duchess of Cambridge holds patronage within over 20 charitable and military organisations, including Action for Children, SportsAid and the National Portrait Gallery. She undertakes projects through The Royal Foundation, with her charity work focusing on issues surrounding young children, addiction and art. To encourage people to open up about their mental health issues, the Duchess envisioned the mental health awareness campaign “Heads Together”, launched with the Duke and Prince Harry in April 2016. The media have called Catherine’s impact on British and American fashion the “Kate Middleton effect”. In 2012 and 2013, Time magazine selected her as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.

Early life and career

Catherine Elizabeth Middleton was born at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading on 9 January 1982 into an upper-middle-class family. She was baptised at St Andrew’s Bradfield, a local parish church, on 20 June 1982. She is the eldest of three children born to Michael Middleton (b. 1949) and his wife, Carole (née Goldsmith; b. 1955), a former flight dispatcher and flight attendant, respectively, who in 1987 founded Party Pieces, a privately held mail order company that sells party supplies and decorations with an estimated worth of £30 million. Her father’s family has ties to British aristocracy and benefited financially from trust funds which they established over 100 years ago. Her Middleton relatives were reported as having played host to British royalty “as long ago as 1926”. She has a younger sister, Pippa, and a younger brother, James.

The family lived in Amman, Jordan, from May 1984 to September 1986 where her father worked for British Airways. Middleton attended an English-language nursery school. When her family returned to Berkshire in 1986, she was enrolled aged four at St Andrew’s School, a private school near Pangbourne in Berkshire. She boarded part-weekly at St Andrew’s in her later years. She studied at Downe House School. She was a boarder at Marlborough College, a co-educational independent boarding school in Wiltshire; Middleton showed talent in sports and was captain of the women’s field hockey team. After her studies, she took a gap year, studying at the British Institute of Florence in Italy and travelling to Chile to participate in a Raleigh International programme. She worked as a deckhand at the Port of Southampton in the summer preceding university. Middleton subsequently enrolled at University of St Andrews in Fife, Scotland, studying history of art. She briefly studied psychology before focusing solely on art history. She worked part-time as a waitress during her studies. While attending university, she achieved a gold Duke of Edinburgh Award. Middleton was an active member of The Lumsden Club, which held fundraisers and community projects each year. In 2005, Middleton graduated from the University of St Andrews with an undergraduate MA (2:1 Hons) in the history of art.

In November 2006, Middleton commenced part-time work for twelve months as an accessory buyer with the clothing chain Jigsaw. Later that year, she curated a photography exhibition to mark the book launch of “Time to Reflect”, by Alistair Morrison, to raise funds for UNICEF. In 2007 and 2008, Middleton made several trips to Naomi’s House Hospice, where she brought gifts and read to children. In 2008, she organised an 80’s-themed roller disco fundraiser which raised money for Place2Be, an organisation which improves mental health in schools. Middleton also worked until January 2011 at the family business in catalogue design and production, marketing, and photography. While working for the company, she launched the firm’s junior brand for toddlers, and began working with the Starlight Children’s Foundation, which helps terminally ill youth, providing party essentials for sick children. Middleton also helped coordinate the Boodles Boxing Ball, which raised money for the charity.

Prior to her marriage, Middleton lived in an apartment owned by her parents in Chelsea, London alongside her sister, which was estimated to be worth £1–1.4 million. In 2018, Catherine’s total net worth was estimated at £5–7.3 million, most of which is from her parents’ company.

Personal life

Early relationship with Prince William

In 2001, Middleton met Prince William while they were students in residence at St Salvator’s Hall at the University of St Andrews. She reportedly caught William’s eye at a charity fashion show at the university in 2002 when she appeared on the stage wearing a see-through lace dress. The couple began dating in 2003, although their relationship remained unconfirmed. During their second year, Middleton shared a flat with William and two other friends. From 2003 to 2005, they both resided at Balgove House on the Strathtyrum estate with two roommates.

Middleton attended Prince William’s Passing Out Parade at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on 15 December 2006. In April 2007, Prince William and Middleton ended their relationship. Middleton and her family attended the Concert for Diana in July 2007 at Wembley Stadium, where she and Prince William sat two rows apart. The couple were subsequently seen together in public on a number of occasions and news sources stated that they had “rekindled their relationship”.

On 17 May 2008, Middleton attended the wedding of Prince William’s cousin Peter Phillips to Autumn Kelly, which the prince did not attend. Middleton attended the Order of the Garter procession at Windsor Castle in June 2008, where Prince William was made a Royal Knight of the Garter. On 19 July 2008, she was a guest at the wedding of Lady Rose Windsor and George Gilman. Prince William was away on military operations in the Caribbean, serving aboard HMS Iron Duke. In June 2010, the couple moved into a cottage on the Bodorgan Estate in Anglesey, Wales, where Prince William resided during his RAF search-and-rescue training and subsequent career.

Marriage and children

Catherine Middleton and Prince William became engaged in October 2010, in Kenya, during a 10-day trip to the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy to celebrate William passing the RAF helicopter search and rescue course. Clarence House announced the engagement on 16 November 2010. Prince William gave Middleton the engagement ring that had belonged to his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales. The couple married in Westminster Abbey on 29 April 2011 (St. Catherine’s Day), with the day declared a bank holiday in the United Kingdom. Estimates of the global audience for the wedding ranged around 300 million or more, whilst 26 million watched the event live in Britain alone. Upon her marriage, Catherine assumed the style “Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge”. The couple were given the country home, Anmer Hall, on the Sandringham Estate, as a wedding gift from the Queen. The Duke and Duchess owned an English Cocker Spaniel, Lupo, from December 2011 to November 2020.

On 3 December 2012, St James’s Palace announced that the Duchess was pregnant with her first child. The announcement was made earlier in the pregnancy than is usual as she had been admitted to King Edward VII’s Hospital suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum, a severe form of morning sickness. She remained in hospital for three days. Prince George was born at St Mary’s Hospital in London on 22 July 2013. The severe morning sickness returned with the subsequent pregnancies, forcing Catherine to cancel her official engagements. She gave birth to Princess Charlotte on 2 May 2015 and to Prince Louis on 23 April 2018. The family officially reside at Kensington Palace.

Public life

Middleton’s first public appearance with Prince William following the announcement of their engagement was at a fundraising event organised by the Teenage Cancer Trust in December 2010. She was formally introduced to public life on 24 February 2011, two months before the wedding, when she and Prince William attended a lifeboat-naming ceremony in Trearddur, Anglesey, in North Wales. A day later they appeared in St Andrews to launch the university’s 600th anniversary celebrations. In March 2011, the couple toured Belfast. Their last public engagement before the wedding was a visit to Darwen Aldridge Community Academy. The Duchess’s first official engagement after the wedding came in May, when she and her husband met Barack Obama, the President of the United States, and First Lady Michelle Obama at Buckingham Palace. The Duke and Duchess’s first royal tour of Canada took place in July 2011. The couple’s activities included attending celebrations for Canada Day. The tour included a two-day trip to California. This was Duchess’s first visit to the United States. On 26 October 2011, she undertook her first solo engagement at a reception for In Kind Direct, hosted at Clarence House, stepping in for the Prince of Wales.

On 2 November, the Duke and Duchess visited the UNICEF Supply Division, which supplies food to malnourished children globally, in Copenhagen, Denmark. On St. Patrick’s Day in 2012, the Duchess carried out the traditional awarding of shamrocks to the Irish Guards at their Aldershot base; this was her first solo military engagement. On 19 March, she gave her first speaking engagement for the opening of the Treehouse, a new children’s hospice opened by East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices, of which she is a patron. The Duke and Duchess were announced as ambassadors for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, alongside Prince Harry. As part of her role, the Duchess attended numerous sporting events throughout the games. In September 2012, the Duke and Duchess embarked on a tour of Singapore, Malaysia, Tuvalu, and the Solomon Islands to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee across the Commonwealth. During this overseas visit, she made her first official speech abroad, while visiting a hospice in Malaysia, drawing on her experience as patron of East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices. The Duke and Duchess attended further celebrations of the Jubilee throughout the year, including the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant in July.

The first engagement that the Duchess carried out after the birth of Prince George was in late August 2013, when she accompanied the Duke to meet runners preparing for an ultra-marathon on the isle of Anglesey, where they had resided from 2009 to 2013. At the beginning of March 2014, it was announced that the couple would be accompanied by their son on an upcoming tour of New Zealand and Australia from 16 to 25 April. The tour was Catherine’s first visit to the area and Prince George’s first major public appearance since his christening in October 2013. The tour itinerary included visiting the Plunket Society for children and visiting fire-damaged areas in New South Wales. The tour began in New Zealand where they visited Wellington, Blenheim, Auckland, Dunedin, Queenstown and Christchurch. It ended in Australia where they visited Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Brisbane, Uluru, Adelaide, and Canberra. In June 2014, the couple visited France to attend the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Normandy landings at Gold Beach. On 21 July 2014, it was announced that the Duchess would be making her first solo trip, visiting the island of Malta on 20–21 September 2014, when the island was celebrating its 50th independence anniversary. Her trip was cancelled, with the Duke taking her place, after the announcement of her second pregnancy in early September.

In December 2014, the couple visited the United States and attended a charity dinner at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In October 2015, the Duchess attended her first state banquet at Buckingham Palace, held to host Chinese President Xi Jinping. In April 2016, the Duchess and her husband undertook a tour to India and Bhutan. Activities included visiting children’s charities such as Childline India, as well as a visit to Lingkana Palace. Later that month, the couple met again with President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at Kensington Palace. The Duke and Duchess toured Canada again in September 2016. On 11 October 2016, the Duchess made her first solo foreign trip to The Netherlands. Countries visited by the couple in 2017 include France, Poland, Germany, and Belgium. The Duchess takes official portraits of her children and joined the Royal Photographic Society in 2017. She visited Luxembourg City in May 2017 for the Treaty of London commemorations. In January 2018, the couple visited Sweden and Norway. In February 2019, the Duke and Duchess carried out a two-day visit of Northern Ireland, visiting Belfast, Fermanagh, and Ballymena.

In June 2019, the Duchess took the royal first salute, typically received by the Queen, at the Beating Retreat military pageant. The Duchess accompanied her husband on a tour of Pakistan in October 2019, which was the royal family’s first visit to the country in 13 years. The couple conducted an interview for CNN in Lahore while visiting the SoS Children’s Village, where the Duchess gave a speech relating to her work on the early years. In March 2020, the Duke and Duchess carried out a three-day tour of Ireland, visiting County Meath, Kildare, and Galway. In October 2020, the Duke and Duchess met Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, and First Lady Olena Zelenska, at Buckingham Palace, the first royal engagement held at the residence since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In December, the couple embarked on a three-day tour of England, Scotland, and Wales via the British Royal Train “to pay tribute to the inspiring work of individuals, organisations and initiatives across the country that have gone above and beyond to support their local communities” in 2020. Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressed his support for the initiative, while First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon criticised the tour, citing travel restrictions; UK, Scottish and Welsh governments were consulted before planning the tour.

Charity work

Patronages

In March 2011, the Duke and Duchess set up a gift fund held by The Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry to allow well-wishers who wanted to give them a wedding gift to donate money to charities they care about instead. The gift fund supported 26 charities of the couple’s choice, incorporating the armed forces, children, the elderly, art, sport and conservation. In June 2012, The Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry was renamed The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, to reflect Catherine’s contribution to the charity. The charity is now listed as The Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

The Duchess of Cambridge’s charity work focuses mainly on issues surrounding young children, addiction, and art. Catherine’s impact on charitable donations and project visibility has been called the “Kate effect”. She has a number of patronages: The Art Room, the National Portrait Gallery, East Anglia’s Children’s Hospice, Action on Addiction, Place2Be, the Natural History Museum, the Anna Freud Centre, Sportsaid, and The 1851 Trust. The Duchess, as a history of art graduate, takes an interest in art and handpicked the Art Room, which “helps disadvantaged children express themselves” through art therapy, and the National Portrait Gallery. In her capacity as patron of Action on Addiction, the Duchess has occasionally made visits to its centres, spending time with recovering addicts. The Duchess is joint Patron of 100 Women in Hedge Fund’s Philanthropic Initiatives, along with Prince William and Prince Harry. She was also a local volunteer leader with The Scout Association in north Wales, of which the Queen is patron, before being made co-president in September 2020, alongside the Duke of Kent. It aims to provide activities to over 400,000 young people in the UK.

In 2012, together with the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry, Catherine launched Coach Core. The program was set up following the 2012 Olympics and provides apprenticeship opportunities for people who desire to pursue a career as a professional coach. In October 2012, the Duchess, alongside Action on Addiction, launched the M-PACT programme (Moving Parents and Children Together), one of the only UK programmes to focus specifically on the impact of drug addiction on families. 283 Place2Be volunteers were trained through the programme to reach over 26,000 children. In December 2015, she assumed the patronage of the Royal Air Force Air Cadets for youths 12–19 years of age. The Duke of Edinburgh, who had been patron of the RAF Cadets for 63 years, formally handed over during an audience at Buckingham Palace. In 2017, she replaced the Queen as patron of The Lawn Tennis Association, All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, and Action for Children.

In January 2018, locks of her hair were reportedly donated to the Little Princess Trust, a charity which makes wigs for children diagnosed with cancer. In February 2018, the Duchess became the patron of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. She also launched Nursing Now, a three-year worldwide campaign to raise awareness about the profile of nurses. She has written of her family ties with nursing and that both her grandmother Valerie Middleton and her great-grandmother Olive Middleton were VAD nurses for the British Red Cross. In March 2018, the Duchess hosted a symposium with the Royal Society of Medicine, focusing on children’s health, and launched the Early Intervention Support initiative which would raise awareness of issues such as youth, maternal, and mental health, as well as parental and educational support. It was announced that a steering group would research solutions to problems facing young people, and how it impacted society and the economy. Later that month, Kensington Palace announced the Duchess of Cambridge would become the first royal patron of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

In June 2019, she succeeded the Queen as patron of the Royal Photographic Society. In January 2020, she and other photographers took part in an exhibition to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust. In July 2019, she lent her support to Backyard Nature, a campaign created to inspire “children, families and communities to get outside and engage with nature”. In August 2019, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge competed in the King’s Cup yachting regatta to raise money for eight different charities. In December 2019, she succeeded the Queen as Royal Patron of Family Action. In May and June 2020, the Duke and Duchess, alongside their children, delivered food parcels made on the Sandringham Estate to local isolated pensioners during the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2020, the Duchess as the patron of the National Portrait Gallery launched “Hold Still”, a project to capture people’s life during lockdown, which garnered 31,000 submissions. In July 2020, the exhibition was released, with the final 100 photographs being displayed online. In October 2020, the portraits were displayed on 112 public sites, including billboards, murals, and posters, across 80 towns and cities. The online exhibition collected over 5.2 million page views. In December 2020, the Duke and Duchess became joint patrons of NHS Charities Together. The Duchess discreetly volunteered with the Royal Voluntary Service during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Early years and mental health advocacy

Catherine has tackled issues surrounding mental health and disabilities; she has previously made visits to charities and hospitals such as St Thomas’ Hospital and Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute to spend time with mothers and children who deal with these issues. To encourage people to open up about their mental health issues, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry initiated the mental health awareness campaign “Heads Together” in April 2016. The campaign was first envisioned by the Duchess earlier that year. The Duchess later voluntarily talked about her struggles as a mother, and admitted that she suffered a “lack of confidence” and “feelings of ignorance” during certain periods of time. In February 2020, Catherine spoke on a podcast about her experiences with “mum guilt” in balancing work/life commitments, and described bringing her newborn home from the hospital for the first time as “terrifying”. She has also highlighted the importance of “a happy home” and “a safe environment” for children, and described her “passion” for the outdoors, referencing it as an asset to building childhood wellbeing and developmental foundations.

The Duchess of Cambridge also launched the Mentally Healthy Schools, a project which helps the students and staff with access “to reliable and practical resources to improve awareness, knowledge and confidence in supporting pupils’ mental health”. Catherine held sessions for the programme at the Mental Health in Education Conference in 2019. After two years of development, the website had over 250,000 visitors to the site accessing resources. Benita Refson, president of Place2Be, one of Catherine’s patronages, has praised the Duchess’s work saying she would help “shine the spotlight on child mental health”. In February 2016, she travelled to Edinburgh to promote the work of Place2Be, launched Children’s Mental Health Week, and contributed to the HuffPost UK as a part of the Young Minds Matter movement, an effort “to raise awareness for children’s mental health issues”. The Duke and Duchess later met with members and representatives of Young Minds and Youthscape to promote their mental health campaign. In recognition of their work with charities concerned with children’s mental health, the Duchess and her husband were awarded the Gold Blue Peter badge, an award previously granted to the Queen. During a speech at the Royal Foundation forum in 2018, the Duchess said she would continue her work to raise awareness for mental health and said that “The mental health of children and adults is one area where a long-term view will make all the difference to future generations.”

In January 2019, it was confirmed that the Duchess would work together with the Royal Horticultural Society as one of the co-designers for a garden display at the 2019 Chelsea Flower Show. Catherine designed the “Back to Nature Garden” together with Andree Davies and Adam White. The garden, which featured “a tree house, waterfall, rustic den and a campfire” among other parts, was unveiled at the Chelsea Flower Show in May 2019 to emphasise “the benefits the natural world brings to mental and physical well-being”. The garden was later expanded and moved to Hampton Court Palace as a part of the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. In May 2019, as a part of their “Heads Together” initiative, the Duchess of Cambridge together with her husband and in-laws, launched Shout, a text messaging service for those who suffer from mental issues. In October 2019, the Duchess of Cambridge, together with other members of the royal family, voiced a PSA video for Public Health England “as part of its Every Mind Matters program”. In late March 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge started supporting a new mental health initiative by the Public Health England amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.

In January 2020, the Duchess launched “5 Big Questions on the Under 5’s”, a nationwide survey on development in early years. The survey was conducted by Ipsos MORI and contains “further qualitative and ethnographic research” on the early years. “5 Big Questions” received over 500,000 responses. The results of the survey were released in November 2020 during an online Early Years forum composed of medical experts hosted by the Royal Foundation, where the Duchess was a keynote speaker. The survey’s findings outlined five key topics surrounding early childhood, including parental mental health and wider community health and support. In Britain’s Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week of May 2020, she engaged in a video call with new parents, midwives and other maternity service professionals to promote her message of mental health awareness during the pandemic. In July 2020, the Duchess supported and assisted in the development of BBC’s “Tiny Happy People” initiative, providing free digital resources to parents with young children. In August 2020, she headed a donation drive to benefit baby banks nationwide, including Little Village, which spurred over 10,000 donations from Marks & Spencer, Tesco, John Lewis & Partners, and Sainsbury’s.

Fashion and style

The Duchess, prominent for her fashion style, has been placed on numerous “best dressed” lists. The Daily Telegraph selected her as the Most Promising Newcomer on its 2006 list of style winners and losers. Tatler placed her at number eight on its yearly list of the top ten style icons in 2007. People featured Middleton on its 2007 and 2010 best-dressed lists. She was named one of Richard Blackwell’s ten Fabulous Fashion Independents of 2007. In June 2008, Style.com selected her as its monthly beauty icon. In July 2008, Vanity Fair included her on its international best-dressed list. In February 2011 the Global Language Monitor named her the Top Fashion buzzword of the 2011 season. In January 2012, the Headwear Association voted her Headwear Person of the Year. She was number one on Vanity Fair‘s annual best dressed lists in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013; she also appeared as the cover star in 2012. The Duchess was named to the International Best Dressed Hall of Fame List in 2014. In 2021, it was reported that Catherine boosted the British fashion industry up to £1 billion within a year.

In 2014, she was lauded as a British cultural icon, with young adults from abroad naming her among a group of people who they most associated with UK culture. In June 2016, she took part in her first magazine shoot for Vogue‘s centenary issue, appearing on the cover. The shoot took place on the Sandringham Estate; Catherine was involved in selecting her wardrobe of “off-duty jeans and shirts” reflecting her love of the countryside. The spread was dubbed as the “most personal and natural royal portraits ever undertaken by Vogue“. The photoshoot was done in collaboration with her patronage, the National Portrait Gallery, where two pictures from the shoot were displayed. In 2018, Tatler named her on its list of Britain’s best dressed people, praising her for “recycling her looks, rather than wearing them as one-offs”, as well as her use of “both high street and high-end brands”.

The “Kate Middleton effect” is the trend that the Duchess is reported to have had on others in sales of particular products and brands. In 2018, Brand Finance’s research cited the Duchess as “the most powerful royal fashion influencer”, retaining that pieces in her wardrobe increase desirability among 38 percent of American shoppers. The Duchess has been credited for popularizing nude pumps and hosiery in the early years of her marriage. During daytime engagements, she has been noted to favor coatdresses, tea dresses, waxed jackets, lavallière blouses, blazers, and skinny jeans. While Catherine wears items from many new designers, she has also worn dresses by Catherine Walker, who designed many of Diana’s favourite evening gowns and day suits. She has worn outfits, hats and ensembles by many other fashion designers. The brands she favours are noted in the media. The Duchess has worn Jenny Packham numerous times, most notably outside the Lindo Wing after giving birth to each of her children in 2014, 2016, and 2018 respectively. Alexander McQueen has been referred to as Catherine’s “go-to” brand since her wedding in 2011, and she has worn designs to several annual events including Trooping the Colour, Royal Ascot and the British Academy Film Awards, as well as state banquets and receptions. She has worn several high-street brands during official engagements and projects, most frequently Topshop and Zara. Believed to be influenced by the style and fashion choices of Diana, Princess of Wales, Catherine has developed a “caring wardrobe” similar to that of her mother-in-law, with colourful fabrics, skirt suits, and bright hues suitable for visiting hospitals and schools.

The Duchess, who attended the 71st British Academy Film Awards, did not participate in Time’s Up movement calling for women to wear black on the red carpet. Royal protocol forbids members of the royal family from taking part in political movements but she wore a black sash and carried a black handbag as a variation to the informal black dress code. In March 2018, together with the Countess of Wessex, the Duchess hosted the Commonwealth Fashion Exchange reception at Buckingham Palace during 2018 London Fashion Week.

Privacy and the media

The death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in Paris while being chased by paparazzi in 1997, influenced the Duke’s attitude towards the media. The Duchess and her husband have asked that, when off-duty, their privacy should be respected.

After her graduation from university, Middleton was faced with widespread press attention and was often photographed by the paparazzi. On 17 October 2005, she complained through her lawyer about harassment from the media, stating she had done nothing significant to warrant publicity. Former royal press secretary Dickie Arbiter stated that her treatment by the press drew parallels to the tumultuous experience of William’s mother in the early years of her marriage. Media attention increased around the time of her 25th birthday in January 2007, prompting warnings from the Prince of Wales, Prince William, and Middleton’s lawyers, who threatened legal action. Two newspaper groups, News International, which publishes The Times and The Sun; and the Guardian Media Group, publishers of The Guardian, decided to refrain from publishing paparazzi photographs of her. In 2009, Middleton was awarded £10,000 damages and an apology from the photographic press agency Rex Features Ltd. after she was photographed playing tennis on Christmas Eve while on holiday in Cornwall. In 2010, she pursued an invasion of privacy claim against two agencies and photographer Niraj Tanna, who took photographs of her over Christmas 2009. Middleton obtained a public apology, £5,000 in damages, and legal costs.

In September 2012, the French edition of Closer and the Italian gossip magazine Chi, published photographs of the Duchess sun-bathing topless while on holiday at the Château d’Autet (a private château on a 260-ha estate 71 km north of Aix-en-Provence). Analysts from The Times believed the photographs were taken from the D22 (Vaucluse) road half a kilometre from the pool—a distance that would require an 800-mm or a 1000-mm lens. On 17 September 2012, the Duke and Duchess filed a criminal complaint with the French prosecution department and launched a claim for civil damages at the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Nanterre. The following day the courts granted an injunction against Closer, prohibiting further publication of the photographs and announced a criminal investigation would be initiated. Under French law, punitive damages cannot be awarded but intrusions of privacy are a criminal offence carrying a maximum jail sentence of one year and a fine of up to €45,000 for individuals and €225,000 for companies. In September 2017, Closer was fined €100,000 and its editor Laurence Pieau and owner Ernesto Mauri were each fined €45,000.

In December 2012, two Australian radio hosts, Michael Christian and Mel Greig, called King Edward VII’s Hospital where the Duchess was an in-patient for hyperemesis gravidarum. Pretending to be the Queen and the Prince of Wales, Greig and Christian spoke to a nurse on the Duchess’s ward, enquiring about her condition. Following a hospital inquiry and a public backlash against the hoax, Jacintha Saldanha, the nurse who put the call through to the ward, committed suicide. The radio hosts subsequently apologised for their actions.

In February 2013, Chi published the first photos of Catherine’s exposed baby bump, taken during her vacation on the private island of Mustique. The British press refused to publish the paparazzi shots. While the Duchess was visiting the Blue Mountains in Sydney, a picture was taken of her bare bottom as her dress blew up. Many newspapers outside the UK published the picture. On 14 August 2015, Kensington Palace published a letter detailing what it stated were the “dangerous” and invasive efforts of the media to get paparazzi pictures of Prince George and Princess Charlotte. Jason Knauf, communications secretary to the Cambridges, wrote the letter to media standards organisations in various countries.

In May 2020, Kensington Palace said that the cover story of Tatler magazine titled ‘Catherine the Great’ contained “a swathe of inaccuracies and false misrepresentations”. Despite the palace’s statement that most of the material was not given to them before publication, the magazine’s editor-in-chief announced that he would stand behind the story as the palace had been aware of it for months. In September 2020, after pressure from the couple’s lawyers, the magazine removed remarks on the Duchess’s family and other similar claims from the online version of the story.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

Catherine is, by marriage, a princess of the United Kingdom and entitled to the style of Royal Highness. She is usually styled as “Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge”. When in Scotland, she is known as the Countess of Strathearn. Northern Ireland is represented by a third title, Lady Carrickfergus.

Honours

•  5 December 2017: Royal Family Order of Queen Elizabeth II
•  29 April 2019: Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO)

Commonwealth honours

•  1 October 2016: Tuvalu Order of Merit

Honorary military appointments

 Canada

•  5 July 2011 – present: Canadian Ranger

 United Kingdom

•  16 December 2015 – present: Honorary Air Commandant of the Royal Air Force Air Cadets

Honorific eponym

Awards

•  Ontario: Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Award, University of Waterloo, Waterloo

Arms

In September 2013, the Queen granted a conjugal coat of arms to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, consisting of their individual arms displayed side by side, beneath a helm and coronet denoting the duke’s status as grandson of the sovereign. Below is shown the earlier grant of the duchess’s personal arms, impaled with those of her husband.

Coat of arms of the Duchess of Cambridge hide

Notes The duchess bears the arms of her husband impaled with those of her father. The coat of arms was granted to her father by the College of Arms on 19 April 2011. Thomas Woodcock, Garter King of Arms, the senior officer of the College of Arms, helped the family with the design. The Duchess of Cambridge’s coat of arms denotes that she is the daughter of Michael Middleton and the wife of the Duke of Cambridge. Adopted 19 April 2011 Coronet Coronet of a child of the heir apparent Escutcheon Quarterly 1st and 4th Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or armed and langed Azure (England), 2nd Or a lion rampant Gules armed and langued Azure within a double tressure flory counterflory of the second (Scotland), 3rd Azure a harp Or stringed Argent (Ireland), the whole differenced with a label of three points Argent with the central point charged with an escallop Gules (Prince William); Impaled with a shield per pale Azure and Gules, a chevron Or, cotised Argent, between three acorns slipped and leaved Or (Middleton). Supporters To the dexter the Lion as borne and used as a Supporter by “Our Dearly Beloved Grandson His Royal Highness Prince William of Wales Duke of Cambridge” and to the sinister a Hind Argent unguled and gorged with “a Coronet of Our Dearly Beloved Grandson’s degree Or”. The hind is white (argent) and is hooved, unguled and has about its neck (is gorged with) the Duke of Cambridge’s coronet. Both the hooves and coronet are gold (Or). Orders The Royal Victorian Order circlet. VICTORIA Other elements Insignia of GCVO appended Symbolism The dividing line (between two colours) down the centre is a canting of the name ‘Middle-ton’. The acorns (from the oak tree) are a traditional symbol of England and a feature of west Berkshire, where the family lived. The three acorns also denote the family’s three children. The gold chevron in the centre of the arms is an allusion to Carole Middleton’s maiden name of Goldsmith. The two white chevronels (narrow chevrons above and below the gold chevron) symbolise peaks and mountains, and the family’s love of the Lake District and skiing. Previous versions Catherine’s previous coat of arms depicted the shield from her father Michael Middleton’s coat of arms shaped into a lozenge hanging from a blue ribbon symbolising her unmarried state. Her sister, Pippa, also used the same lozenge-shaped coat of arms prior to her 2017 marriage. Her brother, James, will in due course inherit his father’s coat of arms.

Ancestry

The Duchess of Cambridge’s father is Michael Middleton, son of Captain Peter Middleton, who, along with their forebears, were from Leeds, Yorkshire. Her paternal great-grandmother Olive Middleton (née Lupton) and her cousin Baroness von Schunck (née Kate Lupton) were members of the Lupton family who are described as landed gentry and as such, were invited to the coronation of King George V in 1911. Four successive generations of the Duchess’s ancestors had lived at Potternewton Hall Estate, the family seat, including the Duchess’s great-grandmother Olive Middleton, her father, politician Francis Martineau Lupton, his mother, educator Frances Lupton and her father, epidemiologist and surgeon Dr Thomas Michael Greenhow.

The Duchess’s maternal ancestors, the Harrisons, were working-class labourers and miners from Sunderland and County Durham. Ancestors through her maternal line include Sir Thomas Conyers, 9th Baronet (1731–1810), who was a descendant of King Edward IV through his illegitimate daughter Elizabeth Plantagenet. Other paternal ancestors are Sir Thomas Fairfax (1475–1520) and his wife Anne Gascoigne, who was a descendant of King Edward III.

Authored articles

• HRH The Duchess of Cambridge (17 February 2016). “Let’s Make a Real Difference for an Entire Generation of Young Children”. HuffPost (UK ed.).
• HRH The Duchess of Cambridge (27 December 2019). “An Open Letter from The Duchess of Cambridge to Midwives”. The Royal Family.