While Kate Middleton is known for being poised and positively regal,
she isn't immune to the occasional slip-up. It turns out,
Kate is actually a lot more relatable than many of us would think. Here's a look at some
of the Duchess of Cambridge's most awkward moments that played out before millions.
Members of the royal family are tasked with always looking effortlessly composed and elegant.
Usually, Kate does a pretty good job of floating through public events and appearances without a
hitch. At one heavily attended event, however, the duchess suffered a seriously awkward
wardrobe mishap. In 2013, Kate paid a visit to the Irish Guards Parade to celebrate St.
Patrick's Day. Things went wrong when the heel of her shoe slipped into a grate and got stuck.
Apparently, Kate wasn't too rattled by the awkward accident.
In fact, it seems she handled the situation with the effortless grace she's famous for. The duchess
reached for her husband's hand and smilingly bent down to pull the heel out of the grate
herself. Trust Kate to deal with an embarrassing situation so elegantly!
Most of the time, royal events consist of greeting crowds, giving speeches, cutting ribbons, and so
on. However, every now and then, the royals are sent to an event that is a little more unusual.
In 2014, Kate and William ended up in a DJ booth while touring Adelaide, Australia. The
couple were given a little tutorial by DJ Shane Peterer before they hit the decks themselves.
In a video by Sky News, you can even see Kate in action as she tries her hand at some vinyl
scratching definitely not an activity that most royals are accustomed to.
"We all have our ups and downs."
Kate clearly felt a little uncomfortable trying out her new skill, giving a slightly
awkward thumbs up to the crowd. Based on the smiles and laughs of Kate and her husband,
it's clear that the couple had tons of fun learning this unexpected new skill
even if they looked and felt a little awkward in the process.
Anyone who follows the royals will know that a public display of affection is not always
considered appropriate. As royal etiquette expert Myka Meier told People, there is no official rule
against royal PDAs, but most royal couples choose to refrain from showing affection during official
visits. Kate Middleton and Prince William have only exchanged a few PDAs throughout the years.
In 2019, the couple had an awkward moment when Kate seemed to shrug off a rare affectionate
gesture from her husband. The incident occurred on BBC's Christmas special,
A Berry Royal Christmas. At one point during the show,
William reached out to touch Kate's arm, but Kate seemed to instantly shrink away.
While Kate didn't let her face give anything away about why she shrugged off her husband's hand,
it looks as if the gesture made her uncomfortable. We'll never know for
sure why she dodged the prince's hand, but perhaps she simply thought a PDA
simply wasn't appropriate for a televised Christmas special.
The relationship between the Duchess of Cambridge and her sister-in-law Meghan Markle has been a
source of speculation. While some are convinced that Kate and Meghan have a frosty relationship,
others believe that their feud was largely fabricated. Whatever the truth may be of
their relationship, it's clear that the two women have shared some uncomfortable moments.
In the book Finding Freedom, sources reportedly close to the royals revealed
some secrets about the two women and their supposed "feud." While the duchesses were
said to have never fought or argued, apparently, the women never bonded.
In 2017, when Meghan and Prince Harry were dating,
Kate allegedly came across Meghan at Kensington Palace. It was revealed:
"Although both were heading out to go shopping in the same street Kate went in her own Range Rover."
"Is this all a joke to you?"
It seemed that Meghan had hoped that Kate would take her,
an eventual duchess, under her wing and, quote, "give her the lie of the land,"
but instead the relationship remained distant and awkward between the two.
When it comes to royal photo ops, it's customary for the royals to get
immersed in their surroundings. When the couple attended a training day for the London Marathon,
they took part in a race; when they visited an elementary school, they took part in the
children's art program. So, it's no surprise that when they visited Warner Brothers Studio,
they were pictured interacting with props from some of the studio's films.
During one of the funniest moments from the event, William and Kate were asked to duel
with wands from Harry Potter. In a video of the event, the couple are seen learning some
wand waving techniques, before they are tested on their moves in a pretend duel.
"It's leh-vee-OH-sah, not leh-vee-oh-SAH."
Watching the couple pretending to duel complete with their own sound effects is undeniably
hilarious as is the look on Kate's face when she realizes what this photo shoot involves!
While the couple are clearly a little uncomfortable to be waving wands around,
it's also evident that they're having heaps of fun too.
Most of the time, Kate Middleton looks impeccably put together. When she attended Princess Eugenie's
wedding, however, she nearly experienced a seriously embarrassing fashion faux pas.
Kate was wearing a gorgeous fuchsia Alexander McQueen dress with a full skirt.
So far, so good. But when she stepped outside of St George's Chapel, a sudden gust of wind
turned her dress into a sail, blowing her skirt straight up and creating a Marilyn Monroe moment.
Luckily, Kate managed to pin down her skirt just in time. What a pro. It turns out,
the duchess has a system in place to ideally prevent these moments from happening. She often
wears static bodysuits to discourage her skirt from flying up in the wind,
according to The Sun, but the fashion hack didn't exactly work this time. Still,
Kate handled the close call with grace and couldn't help but giggle.
When Kate and William attended the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards show in 2020,
the couple had a hard time keeping their usual composure. In fact, their facial expressions
made it pretty clear they were seriously displeased with some of the speeches.
At one point, Margot Robbie accepted an award for Brad Pitt and spoke on his behalf. While reciting
his acceptance speech, she made a jab about Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's departure from
the royal family, saying, quote, "His words, not mine." When the cameras cut to William and Kate,
the couple were laughing or at least pretending to at the joke. But when Rebel Wilson made a
dig at Prince Andrew in her speech, Kate and William were clearly uncomfortable.
"I was a little nervous, but then I just thought, 'Just crush it.'"
According to Fox News, the couple was not expecting awkward jokes to be made about the
royal family. In fact, U.K. media commentator Neil Sean told the publication that the reaction shots
were actually edited to make the couple look less uncomfortable. That's right,
it seems their original reactions to the jokes were even worse than those we witnessed on TV.
The love story between Kate and William began when the couple were both students
at the University of St. Andrews. Before marrying Prince William, Kate had never had any experience
with royalty, so it's no wonder that she felt pretty shy during their first encounter.
In Christopher Andersen's book about the couple, William and Kate: A Royal Love Story,
he explained how Kate allegedly curtsied when she first met her future husband. And, apparently,
Kate's charming awkwardness caused Prince William to spill his drink all over himself.
In Kate and William's first official interview together since getting engaged,
she recounted the couple's first meeting.
"I actually went bright red and sort of scuttled off feeling very shy about meeting you."
It turns out, members of the royal family can be just as clumsy as the
rest of us. Even though Kate is usually the perfect picture of grace and poise,
she had a pretty embarrassing and quite literal slip-up in 2019. The moment
happened when Kate and William were leaving the Troubadour White City Theater in London.
The duchess must have placed a foot wrong, because she appeared to stumble just before she
reached the car. What made the awkward moment totally adorable, though, was how her husband
instinctively reached out to steady his wife in case she fell. Luckily, Kate regained her
balance on her own. Still, we loved seeing Prince William's ultra quick reaction. As the couple got
into the car, they could be seen sharing a little giggle about the embarrassing trip.
Kate and her sister-in-law are reported to have a somewhat uncomfortable relationship and some of
that discomfort was captured on camera at the 2020 Commonwealth Day ceremony. The event was the final
official appearance of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. It was also the first public meeting of
the two couples since Meghan and Harry announced they would be stepping back from the royal family.
"I really tried to adopt the British sensibility of a stiff upper lip. I tried, I really tried."
When Kate and William arrived at their seats, they briefly greeted the couple
sitting next to Meghan and Harry, but things got uncomfortable when Kate and her husband seemed
to ignore their two family members. While William ultimately looked to briefly acknowledge Meghan,
Kate avoided eye contact altogether. Yikes!
Kate was known to be passionate about sports as a child. Based on some of the duchess' appearances
at sporting events, it seems her love of competition hasn't faded. In fact, she can't help
but get involved in the action whenever she gets the opportunity. When Kate isn't able to play,
though, she enjoys getting to support her favorite teams and players from the stands.
In one memorable instance, Kate and her husband were seen in the stands at Wimbledon Men's Final
in 2019. Kate pulled some exaggerated faces that were nothing short of hilarious to see
on a member of the royal family. By the looks of things, she went through a whole series of
emotions during the game. She was seen with her head in her hands, her mouth agape,
and her hands over her eyes. While Kate is usually stoic and composed, her over the top reactions to
this tennis match revealed that she can't help but get emotionally invested when it comes to sports.
"They show great sportsmanship as well, I think tennis is brilliant
for that, and particularly Wimbledon."
The royal family members tend to become patrons of various organizations as
part of their royal duties. As of 2019, Kate was reported to have 19 patronages,
one of which being Action on Addiction. In 2020, things got seriously awkward when it
was publicly revealed that Kate had been a little lax in her duties. During a virtual
tour of the Action on Addiction facility, Kate mentioned that she hadn't visited in a while.
"I was just looking actually,
it's been a while since I last visited. I think it was 2012 that you were last here."
That's eight whole years!
Although the man may not have been trying to throw some shade on the duchess, the moment
was certainly cringey. One user commented on a clip that was shared to Twitter, writing:
"Why was this made public? The embarrassment! [Eight] years!"
Yikes. We wouldn't be surprised if Kate goes on to pay an in-person
visit to the organization to smooth things over.
Kate is often praised for being good with children.
After all, the royal has three of her own. At one royal appearance in 2019, however,
Kate had an encounter with a group of school children that left her looking pretty silly.
At the event, Kate was meant to help the kids pick out Christmas trees and
make Christmas decorations. According to Kaitlin Menza, a commentator at the event,
the kids weren't very interested in Kate's status nor her Christmas tree!
Apparently, Kate picked out a tree and tried to get the attention of the kids.
Menza told the Royally Obsessed podcast:
"No kids were paying attention to her. The kids were not looking at her at all."
It's ironic that Kate has the world's attention, but struggled to get the attention of a few
school kids. That being said, she may be used to vying for her own kids' attention at home.
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