Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (Catherine Elizabeth "Kate"; nƩe Middleton; born 9 January1982) is the wife of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge.
Following his father Charles, Prince of Wales, William is second in line to succeed his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, as monarch of the United Kingdom and 15 other Commonwealth realms, making her a possible future queen consort.
She grew up in Chapel Row, a village near Newbury, Berkshire, England. She studied art history in Scotland at the University of St Andrews, where she met William in 2001. Their engagement was announced on 16 November 2010 before they married on 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey. The Duke and Duchess have two children: Prince George (born 22 July 2013) and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge (born 2 May 2015), who are respectively third and fourth in line to the British throne.
Her impact on British and American fashion has been called the "Kate Middleton effect" in the media, and in 2012 and 2013, she was selected as one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World" by Time magazine.
Catherine Elizabeth Middleton was born at Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading on 9 January 1982 to an upper-middle-class family. She was christened at St Andrew's Bradfield, Berkshire, on 20 June 1982. She is the eldest of three children born to Michael Middleton (b. 1949), and his wife, Carole (nĆ©e Goldsmith; b. 1955), a former flight dispatcher and flight attendant, respectively, who in 1987 founded Party Pieces, a mail order private company that sells party supplies and decorations with an estimated worth of £30 million. The family of her father Michael has ties to British aristocracy and benefitted financially from tr Her Middleton relatives were reported as having played host to British royalty "as long ago as 1926". She has a younger sister, Philippa "Pippa", and a younger brother, James.
The family lived in Amman, Jordan, from May 1984 to September 1986; her father worked for British Airways (BA), and Middleton went to an English-language nursery school. Following her return to Berkshire in 1986, she was enrolled aged four at St Andrew's School, a private school near the village of Pangbourne in Berkshire. She boarded part-weekly at St Andrew's in her later years.She then studied briefly at Downe House. She was a boarder at Marlborough College, a co-educational independent boarding school in Wiltshire, and graduated in 2005 from the University of St Andrews in Fife, Scotland, with an undergraduate MA (2:1 Hons) in the history of art. In November 2006, Middleton accepted a position as an accessory buyer with the clothing chain Jigsaw, where she worked part-time until November 2007. She also worked until January 2011 at Party Pieces; her role within the family business included catalogue design and production, marketing and photography.
In 2001, Middleton met Prince William while they were both students in residence at St Salvator's Hall at the University of St Andrews. The couple began dating in 2003, although their relationship remained unconfirmed. On 17 October 2005, Middleton complained through her lawyer about harassment from the media, stating that she had done nothing significant to warrant publicity. Media attention increased around the time of her 25th birthday in January 2007, prompting warnings from both the Prince of Wales and Prince William and from 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. Middleton attended Prince William's Passing Out Parade at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on 15 December 2006.
On 17 May 2008, Middleton attended the wedding of Prince William's cousin Peter Phillips to Autumn Kelly, which the prince did not attend. 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 2010, Middleton pursued an invasion of privacy claim against two agencies and photographer Niraj Tanna, who took photographs of her over Christmas 2009.She obtained a public apology, £5,000 in damages, and legal costs.
Breakup and reconciliation
In April 2007, Prince William and Middleton split up. The couple decided to break up during a holiday in the Swiss resort of Zermatt. Newspapers speculated about the reasons for the split, although these reports relied on anonymous sources. Middleton and her family attended the Concert for Diana 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".Prince William and Catherine Middleton became engaged in October 2010, in Kenya, during a 10-day trip to the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy to celebrate Prince William's passing his 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. On the morning of the wedding day, Prince William was created Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn and Baron Carrickfergus, with Catherine assuming feminine form of these titles.
In October, several months after the wedding, Commonwealth leaders pledged that they would implement changes in British royal succession law to adopt absolute primogeniture, meaning that the first child of the Duke and Duchess would be eligible to take the throne regardless of whether it is male or female.
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 stayed in hospital for three days. On 14 January 2013, St James's Palace announced that the child was due to be born in July 2013, and that the condition of the duchess was improving. The Duchess was admitted to St Mary's Hospital in London in the early stages of labour on the morning of 22 July 2013 and gave birth to a son later that day. On 24 July 2013, Kensington Palace announced the baby's name as George Alexander Louis.
The Duchess's second pregnancy was announced on 8 September 2014. As with her first pregnancy, the Duchess suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum and was required to cancel official engagements.On 2 May 2015, the Duchess gave birth to a daughter. The baby's name was announced on 4 May 2015 as Charlotte Elizabeth Diana.
Middleton 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. On 16 February 2011, Clarence House announced that the Duke and Duchess's first royal tour of Canada would take place in July 2011. In May 2011, shortly after the wedding, Clarence House announced that the Duke and Duchess would extend their tour to visit California. This was to be the Duchess's first visit to the United States.
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 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 as part of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations. 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.
After the birth of Prince George, the Duchess carried out her first engagement in late August when she accompanied the duke to meet runners preparing for an ultra-marathon on the isle of Anglesey, where they have a residence. At the beginning of March 2014, details were announced of the half-month-long tour to New Zealand and Australia that the couple and son would be taking 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 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.
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 April 2016, the Duchess and her husband undertook a tour to India and Bhutan.
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 want 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. These causes are close to their hearts and reflect the experiences, passions and values of their lives so far.
The Duchess has a number of patronages: The Art Room, National Portrait Gallery, East Anglia's Children's Hospice, Action on Addiction, Place2Be, Natural History Museum, Anna Freud Centre, Sportsaid, and The 1851 Trust. The Duchess is joint Patron of 100 Women in Hedge Fund's Philanthropic Initiatives, along with Prince William and Prince Harry. In 2017, She became patron of The Lawn Tennis Association, All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club and Action for Children.
She is also a local volunteer leader with the Scout Association in north Wales.
In October 2012, the Duchess gave her royal patronage to 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 as a whole.
In December, 2015, she assumed the patronage of the RAF Cadets for youths 12-19 years of age. The Duke of Edinburgh, who had been patron of the RAF Cadets for 63 years, formally passed the torch to her during an audience at Buckingham Palace.
Public image and style
Middleton became prominent for her fashion style and has been placed on numerous "best dressed" lists. She was selected by The Daily Telegraph as the "Most Promising Newcomer" in its 2006 list of style winners and losers. Tatler placed her at number 8 on its yearly listing of the top ten style icons in 2007. She was featured in People magazine's 2007 and 2010 best-dressed lists.Middleton was named as one of Richard Blackwell's ten "Fabulous Fashion Independents" of 2007. In June 2008, Style.com selected Middleton as their monthly beauty icon. In July 2008, Middleton was included in Vanity Fair's international best-dressed list. In February 2011, she was named the Top Fashion Buzzword of the 2011 season by the Global Language Monitor. In January 2012, she was voted 'Headwear Person of the Year.' Middleton 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. In June 2016, she took part in her first magazine shoot for Vogue's centenary issue appearing on the cover of the magazine.While she wears many new designers, she has also worn dresses by Catherine Walker, who designed many of Princess Diana's favourite evening gowns and day suits.
In 1997, William's mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a road accident in Paris while being chased by paparazzi. This incident has influenced the Duke's attitude towards media attention. Both the Duchess and her husband have asked that, when off-duty, their privacy should be respected, yet the media has not always gone along with the couple's wishes.
In 2009, before her engagement to William, 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 when on holiday in Cornwall.
On 13 September 2012, it was reported that the French edition of "la presse people" magazine Closer and the Italian gossip magazine Chi, had both published photographs of the Duchess sun-bathing topless while on holiday at the ChĆ¢teau d'Autet (a private chĆ¢teau on a 260-ha estate 71 km north of Aix-en-Provence). Analysts from The Times believed that the photograph was 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 pictures and also announced that a criminal investigation would be initiated. Under French law, punitive damages cannot be awarded but such 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 December 2012, two Australian radio hosts, Michael Christian and Mel Greig, called King Edward VII's Hospital Sister Agnes where the Duchess was an in-patient for hyperemesis gravidarum. Pretending to be the Queen and the Prince of Wales, Greig and Christian telephoned the hospital and spoke to a nurse on the Duchess's ward, enquiring about her condition. Following a hospital inquiry and a public backlash against the hoax, the nurse who put the call through to the ward, Jacintha Saldanha, 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 they stated were the dangerous and invasive efforts of the media to get paparazzi pictures of Prince George and Princess Charlotte. The letter was written by Jason Knauf, communications secretary to the Cambridges, and sent to media standards organisations in various countries.
Following international attention regarding the wedding, Lifetime aired a TV film entitled William & Kate on 18 April 2011, in the US. The film premiered in the UK on 24 April 2011. Middleton was played by Camilla Luddington and Prince William by Nico Evers-Swindell. TV programmes were also shown in the UK prior to the wedding which provided deeper insights into the couple's relationship and backgrounds, including When Kate Met Williamand Channel 4's Meet the Middletons.
Another TV film covering similar ground to William & Kate, titled William & Catherine: A Royal Romance and filmed in Bucharest, starred Alice St. Clair and Dan Amboyer as the title characters. Jane Alexander appeared as the Queen and Victor Garber as the Prince of Wales. The film aired on 27 August 2011, in the US on the Hallmark Channel.
In 2014, she was already being regarded as a British cultural icon, with young adults from abroad naming her among a group of people that they most associated with UK culture, which included William Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth II, David Beckham, J. K. Rowling, The Beatles, Charlie Chaplin, Elton John and Adele.
Upon marriage, Catherine became known as "Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge". A fuller version of her title and style is "Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge, Countess of Strathearn and Lady Carrickfergus". In Scotland, she is also styled as "Her Royal Highness The Countess of Strathearn".
Honours
- Medals
6 February 2012: Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
- 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 Air Training Corps
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.Arms of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge
- 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 Catherine is the daughter of Michael Middleton and the wife of the Duke of Cambridge.
- Adopted
- 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).
- 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 have lived for 30 years. 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
- Her 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 uses the same lozenge-shaped coat of arms. Her brother, James, will in due course inherit his father's coat of arms.
Middleton'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 Plantaganet. Other ancestors are Sir Thomas Fairfax (1475–1520), whose wife Anne Gascoigne was a descendant of King Edward III.
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