Is she really as friendly as she seems? Or is something up behind the scenes? You don't have
to take our word for it! We're tapping Princess Catherine's besties for the down-and-dirty deets.
Though she's now become world-famous as a public figure, Princess Catherine was once
an average university student who fell in love with a prince. After the royal family
announced that Prince William and Kate were engaged, several of Kate's former
friends opened up about their time as students at St. Andrews. Mostly, they
say Kate couldn't believe the prince was paying attention to her. One friend told Vanity Fair,
"She was actually quite insecure about her looks and never considered herself
pretty. She was very sweet and very shy. […] Even though she
had secured the most sought-after boy at St. Andrews, she never gloated."
Another friend relayed the story of the moment William made a move on Kate, recalling,
"He actually told her she was a knockout that night, which caused her to blush."
William and Kate dated for years — but they did take a couple of breaks. According to Vanity Fair,
they briefly split in 2004 as they neared graduation. But in 2007, they took a much
longer break after Kate told William they needed to either get engaged or break up. They chose
the latter. Kate's friend, Emma Sayle, later shed some light on the breakup, telling Inside Edition,
"She was devastated. […] She held her head high,
went out, and was in constant contact with William. It wasn't a clean total break."
A few months later, the two were back together.
While William and Kate were separated in 2007,
she joined a rowing team called The Sisterhood. She trained for months,
planning to join the team for a race across the English Channel. Photos of
Kate in her rowing gear caused a tabloid frenzy, but her friend and teammate Emma
Sayle insisted that it wasn't just a photo op. She told to Vanity Fair,
"Kate had always put William first, and she said that this was her chance to do something
for herself. […] Kate started off paddling with the others, but I decided to put her on
the helm because she was an excellent boatman and really well coordinated."
"I love spending time outside and that has stuck with me for my whole life."
But when William and Kate got back together,
the palace insisted she drop out of the race. Emma said,
"The whole thing was becoming a media circus."
Luckily, Kate wasn't done with rowing forever. She
faced off against William in a friendly community race in Germany, in 2017.
Since her marriage to William, Kate has become one of the most recognizable women in the world.
She is now the mother of three, the spokeswoman for several charitable foundations and campaigns,
and the patron of numerous organizations around the United Kingdom. She is photographed
nearly everywhere she goes, and her royal duties take her on tours around the world.
But global notoriety was never her plan. In celebration of her 40th birthday,
one of Kate's friends described how the princess's
life has changed now that she's famous, telling The Daily Mail,
"There is no way Catherine would be doing anything
in public life if she hadn't fallen in love with William. She is very open about that."
Adding that Kate is a fish out of water in a social scene made up
almost entirely of extroverts, the insider added,
"She doesn't want to go [to] parties and would prefer to live the quiet
life at home with her family. But she did fall in love with a prince and they have
developed into a really good team."
As members of the royal family,
William and Kate have massive support at their beck and call. That being said,
according to her friends, Kate refuses to let anyone else raise her children: Prince George,
Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. Even though they have a nanny on hand, a friend told People,
"[Kate] runs things at home with the kids and the
schedules. She is hugely involved in every single part of their day."
"You sort of, you pitch a tent, take the tent down again,
cook, bake — you get to the end of the day, they've had a lovely time."
Another time, a friend told the outlet that Kate
also isn't afraid to discipline her kids when they misbehave, noting,
"It's a normal, busy family home with kids running around and knocking things
over. […] When you see her behind closed doors with the children, she's a very confident mom,
and she's no pushover. The children get told off if they act up."
When Prince William becomes king, Princess Catherine will be given the title of Queen
Consort. But even so, many royal observers expect she will be styled Queen Catherine anyway.
Regardless of her formal title, it's clear Kate will be an essential figure in the
monarchy. As the crown transitions in ways it hasn't for decades, Kate's friends want
to reassure the public that she will make a great queen. A family friend told People,
"She is ready to step into those shoes with ease and is perfect for the job."
Another source close to the family added,
"She is a focused and professional woman."
As Queen Consort, Kate's future role will be ceremonial. But that doesn't mean she
won't be essential. As Princess Diana's former chief of staff told Page Six,
"Catherine is just what these troubled royal times need — it's no exaggeration that the
Windsors' future lies in her hands."
Kate's relationship with Prince Harry
has reportedly changed dramatically in recent years. According to Newsweek,
the two were very close when she first started dating William. At the time, Harry reportedly
called her "the sister he never had." She would even cook for him when he stopped by to visit. But
their relationship seems to have splintered ever since Harry stepped back from the royal family.
Harry released his memoir "Spare" in 2023, and he didn't hold back about
his sister-in-law. He claimed that Kate's alleged opinion of
Meghan Markle soured as the British press began to hound her, writing,
"I think it had Kate on edge while putting her and everyone else on notice that she
was now going to be compared to, and forced to compete with, Meg."
"The way that I can correct those mistruths is by writing something, the truth, in one place."
According to Kate's friends, she definitely wasn't
feeling Harry's tell-all. As one family friend told People of William and Kate,
"So much has been said that at this stage, I think they just want to move on. The whole
situation is very sad, but it's business as usual, and she's getting on with the job
because that's what she does."
On Kate's side of the family,
her children have two living grandparents: Carole and Mike Middleton. According to a family friend,
the youngsters love visiting the relatively modest Middleton home, which boasts a
"menagerie" on the land, including ducks and chickens. The friend explained to People,
"It looks absolutely beautiful. The children love to come and play."
The friend also pointed out the similarities between Kate and her mother, Carole, adding,
"I don't think anything fazes [Kate] — she just takes everything in her stride. A lot
of this comes from her mum. Carole's lovely, and she just doesn't let anything faze her."
For years, Kate was close friends with Rose Hanbury, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley.
But in 2019, rumors swirled that the two were no longer on good terms. As a source told The Sun,
"It is well known that Kate and Rose have had a terrible falling
out. They used to be close but that is not the case any more."
Naturally, the prevailing tabloid narrative became an insinuation
that Hanbury had been having an affair with Prince William. Sources told The
Sun that Kate asked that her former bestie be quote "phased out" of royal communications.
That wasn't the case, however, for the coronation of King Charles. Ahead of the event,
the palace announced that Hanbury's son, Oliver,
would be participating as a royal page. It seems that inside sources attempted
to quash any drama before it started, with a friend of Kate telling The Daily Beast,
"There has never been any enmity between Kate and Rose. The rumors were all a load of rubbish."
Prince George and Princess Charlotte are often said to resemble their father. And in 2020,
Prince William even pointed out the resemblance,
noting that a childhood photo of himself bore a striking resemblance to his daughter.
"Is that me? Because that looks just like Charlotte. That is incredible."
But Prince Louis more closely resembles his mother. And as a family friend claims,
Kate feels the same way. The insider told the outlet,
"Everyone always comments on how Louis is the spitting image of Kate. She loves it and thinks
it's very sweet. She often jokes that he's the only one of her kids who actually looks like her!"
To celebrate the young prince's fifth birthday in 2023, the palace
released new portraits of Prince Louis, tweeting,
"A very happy birthday to Prince Louis."
Noting the same resemblance to Kate's father,
Mike, that People had pointed out years earlier, one person commented,
"He looks like his grandfather."
When Meghan Markle first joined the
royal family, insiders hoped that Harry, William, and their wives would get along
great. Us Weekly even called the group "the fab four." And as Harry wrote in his book,
"I said I couldn't wait for them to meet her, that I looked forward to the four of
us spending lots of time together, and I confessed, for the umpteenth time,
that this had long been my dream — to join them with an equal partner. To become a foursome."
Harry and Meghan ultimately exited the royal family,
pulling back from any foursomes. In their Netflix docuseries "Harry & Meghan," Meghan
claimed that she was surprised that Kate wasn't a fan of hugging.
"I was a hugger, always been a hugger. I didn't realize that that is really
jarring for a lot of Brits."
But a friend of Kate's went to the media to speak out on
behalf of her affectionate friend, telling People,
"Kate's a big hugger. She is warm and friendly and greets everyone
with a big hug and kiss. It comes naturally to her to be like that."