Modeling as a child? Gorgeous gowns for free? And who was "Waity Katie"? From toys to tiaras,
let's take a look at Kate Middleton's life.
Kate Middleton was actually the inspiration for her parents' business. Carole and Michael
Middleton launched a business called Party Pieces, which supplied all of
the accessories needed to host a party. Carole told SheerLuxe in February 2022,
"It was my children who inspired Party Pieces. I was planning Catherine's
fifth birthday party and all I could find were some basic 'clown' plates."
Carole explained that she wanted to create something affordable for parents that was
also festive and fresh, to create a beautiful atmosphere at celebrations.
Thanks to her and Michael's hard work, the business took off. Carole said,
"Party Pieces was literally born at our kitchen table,
so I suppose the 'big break' moment came when I [realized] there were
lots of other parents looking for more affordable and imaginative partyware."
While her parents were launching a business that became a multi-million-dollar company,
Kate has shared as an adult that her home life was very
child-focused. She shared on the "Happy Mum, Happy Baby" podcast,
"I had a very happy childhood. It was great fun. I'm very lucky
I come from a very strong family. My parents were hugely dedicated."
Kate said that her mom and dad showed up at all of her and her
siblings' sports games and that they made sure to have holidays together.
Sounds like both the family finances and the family spirit were top notch.
When Carole and Michael Middleton started the family business, they made sure that their
three children, Kate, Pippa, and James Middleton, were very involved. Carole
explained to SheerLuxe that Party Pieces blossomed in their family home, saying,
"Party Pieces has literally grown alongside my family,
and I'm very proud of that. Pippa wrote our 'Party Times' blog, James did the
cakes when he first left school and Catherine developed our first birthday and baby category."
One of the perks of having young children at the same time as launching a business catered
to children's birthday parties was that Carole's kids, especially Kate and Pippa,
were featured faces. Speaking about her children, Carole told The Telegraph in 2018,
"They did a lot of [modeling]. Catherine was on the cover of
one of the [catalogs], blowing out candles."
Her children's input has grown with the business, too, with their proud mom later saying,
"I still value their ideas and opinions."
So, the future royal had her very first job as a little kid, and while "job" might be a generous
title here, the family business afforded the Middletons access to all of the things that paved
the way for Kate's royal life. It meant that she attended the prestigious Marlborough College and
later to the University of St. Andrews, as Vanity Fair pointed out. Without such a sturdy financial
background on the part of her family, Catherine, Princess of Wales may not have met Prince William.
"I actually went bright red when I met you,
and sort of scuttled off feeling very shy about — about meeting you."
By worldwide standards, the Middleton family is wealthy. As self-made multi-millionaires,
Carole and Michael Middleton haven't exactly earned chump change. However,
according to some British elites, the Middletons represented — at least for
a time — members of the nouveau riche. One insider in this elite world said to Vanity Fair:
"Her parents have a tarmac drive, for God's sake."
For those unfamiliar with the driveway details of British snobbery, apparently only the truly
wealthy in England have gravel driveways. Smooth, paved roads are, we presume, are too common.
A big part of the criticism targeted at the Middleton family, especially as Kate
Middleton's relationship was forging with Prince William, was that certain members
were apparently social climbers, especially, it would seem, Carole. Geoffrey Levy and Richard
Kay wrote for the Daily Mail that Kate comes from "generations of steely social-climbing
matriarchs" and alleged that this was precisely how she was able to stick with
William through the many years of being called "Waity Katie" by the press. Levy and Kay wrote,
"[Carole's] anxious to better herself and to make sure she is financially
secure — you only get that when you're born with nothing. She is ambitious,
very ambitious for her family. And why not? It didn't surprise me at all to
read that she and Mike are now looking at country houses in the £5 million bracket."
After years of waiting to join the royal family, Catherine, Princess of Wales,
married Prince William on April 29, 2011. She did begin working right away; however, she and William
didn't dive into royal duties with the same zealousness as someone like, say Princess Anne,
specifically at William's request. Vanity Fair noted that the late Queen Elizabeth II offered
Kate Middleton and William two years of lighter workloads so that they could bond as a couple.
Nevertheless, the Duchess of Cornwall and Cambridge still got to strut her stuff as a
working royal during this time with some major events. In May 2011, for example,
she and her new husband had their first royal engagement with none other than then-President
Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama. They also participated in other standard
royal activities, like the Trooping the Colour ceremony that year in June,
and paid respects to Britain's Armed Forces later that same month.
William and Kate also visited Canada that summer for nine days, including
a visit to the Calgary Stampede, complete with cowboy hats and blue jeans. Kate also
began working as a patron for a charity: the Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry.
All things considered, it was still a pretty rigorous schedule, and while the
future Princess of Wales didn't take home a paycheck, necessarily, she did earn her keep.
The upside of being a working royal, and as prominent a one as Catherine, Princess of Wales,
means that you get some wildly lavish homes. When Kate Middleton and Prince William were
first married, they lived on the island of Anglesey in Wales because William was
working in the Royal Air Force as a search and rescue pilot, as noted by Vanity Fair.
Eventually, they moved to Kensington Palace in Apartment 1A. While this sounds quaint
and potentially cramped, Apartment 1A is actually four stories and boasts 20 rooms,
as reported by Vogue. Initially, they lived there just with their son Prince George,
before his siblings came along. An insider told E! News about the vibe of the place in 2013, saying,
"It doesn't feel like a palace, more just a lovely townhouse, but there will be plenty of room for
Prince George to run around. The rooms are vast and the garden is wonderful for a little boy."
The couple also received Anmer Hall, located in Norfolk — a wedding gift from the late Queen
Elizabeth II — as their country home, according to People. The Wales' famously holed up there
during the pandemic and waved from the front door with their three children. In August 2022,
Hello! announced that William and Kate were also gifted Adelaide Cottage in Windsor,
shortly before Queen Elizabeth II died. The four-bedroom home is smaller than their other
residencies but does offer a more rural upbringing for their children than life in London did.
In June 2021, Kate Middleton announced that she was launching The Royal Foundation Centre
for Early Childhood. As she stated in the video, she spoke to "psychiatrists and neuroscientists,
to practitioners and academics and parents alike", and added,
“And what has become clear is that the best investment for
our future health and happiness is in the first five years of life."
She went on to say that her goal was to raise awareness and come up with initiatives to
create a society with strong mental health and a nurturing outlook. Per People, a royal aide said,
"The Duchess has made the observation that the more you learn about the science of
early childhood [...] the more you realize that this is the social equivalent to climate change,
but it is not discussed with the same seriousness or strategic intent that that issue is."
"Some of the science behind all of it is extraordinary. 90% of
our adult brain grows before the age of five."
Catherine, Princess of Wales, and William, Prince of Wales,
launched their YouTube channel in May 2021. Their inaugural video got over 5 million views,
and they quickly racked up more than 600,000 subscribers. While this is great news for the
couple's many royal patronages and projects, like The EarthShot Price, which awards innovative ideas
for combating climate change, their blossoming online presence is also a quantifiable commodity.
The Wales' potential financial clout was even noticed by content
marketing agency Rise at Seven. PR director Will Hobson told Forbes,
"Kate and William's move to YouTube has taken the world by storm this week,
but could it be a money move? Once you hit over 1,000 subscribers on YouTube you can then
monetize your content and Kate and Wills are set to rake it in within the next 12 months."
Hobson estimated that they could bring in $6.1 million from both their YouTube
and Instagram accounts, thus boosting the royal couple's already impressive finances.
Whether they're hoping for the financial gain or for greater online exposure, William and
Kate posted the news that they were hiring a digital lead in July 2022. The job posting read,
"The successful candidate will lead the strategy and management of the official social media
channels of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook)."
It's unclear whether the position's already been filled,
but it certainly looks like these two are set to make their online presence a major undertaking.
Catherine, Princess of Wales, is frequently spotted in accessible clothing,
with her favorites and most frequent coming from places like & Other Stories, and Zara.
While these brands are more affordable, some of her looks are of a much more luxurious vein.
Kate Middleton's wedding dress, for example, by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen cost
around $323,732, according to the Daily Mail. Meanwhile, when she visited Canada in 2016,
she wore a coat by British designer Catherine Walker & Co valued at $4,000, per Elle. Kate is
also a huge fan of Jenny Packham and often wears custom made clothes by the designer,
including an iconic shimmering gown that's estimated to be worth a little over $3,710,
as reported by Elle. The Daily Mail noted that her wardrobe cost roughly $190,361.57 — in 2016 alone.
So, who's paid for all of this? As The Telegraph noted in 2018, the sum would have been paid for
by King Charles III when he was still the Duke of Cornwall. The future monarch also paid for Prince
Harry and Meghan Markle's wardrobes when they were still senior royals. Now that Charles is the king,
however, Prince William has taken over the Duchy of Cornwall estate, according to Fortune.
It seems safe to say that Kate can order all the dresses she wants, designer or otherwise.
Things majorly changed for Kate Middleton and Prince William, now also known as the Princess
and Prince of Wales, when they inherited their new titles following the death of
Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022. The change came precisely because of the Duchy of Cornwall
estate. As previously mentioned, the $1.2 billion estate, as Newsweek pointed out,
was what funded much of William and Kate's lives when they were the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
Interestingly though, the estate went entirely to William — the newly titled
Duke of Cornwall and Cambridge. It's a cash cow,
for sure. As Forbes noted, the Duchy made around $27 million from 2021 to 2022 alone.
“When his father became King Charles III, he became an even wealthier man overnight."
The Duchy would also provide the Wales' funds to keep their initiatives and royal projects
going strong. Royal biographer Ingrid Seward told Newsweek,
"We might see a big new project but I don't think it will be immediate. I'm sure there
will be something, William will want to make the role his own and it will be something big."
But it's not like King Charles III lost anything in the climb of becoming king.
The former Duke of Cornwall inherited the queen's private estates, which Forbes estimated
at $500 million. Basically, all members of the royal family are sitting pretty.
While Catherine, Princess of Wales, seems to have access to everything she could dream of,
she still catches a lot of attention for keeping things simple. Kate Middleton has
famously done much of the family photography, including sweet birthday shots of Prince Louis,
Princess Charlotte and Prince George. Her talent with photography also meant that she became
a patron of the National Portrait Gallery, so she works within her passions, for sure.
Kate has also charmed fans by how much she does by herself. Of course, for a normal person, this
might not be all that laudable, but in the era of glam-squads, the fact that the royal did her own
wedding makeup is indeed impressive. Kate also is known to repeat her outfits over and over again.
And when the Princess of Wales was on the cover of British Vogue? She drove by herself to the shoot.
When it comes to parenting especially, Kate likes to keep things as down-to-earth
and hands-on as possible in lieu of any royal pretension. In July 2022,
for example, an insider told Hello! that she brought Princes George and Louis to
a local trampoline park in London over the weekend. The source said,
"[She] took her shoes off like everyone else, and was walking around the edge of
the trampolines following her sons. It was a very down-to-earth mum moment, very sweet."