Everyone's favorite royal may seem like an open book, but we’re betting you never heard these surprising Princess Kate facts!
10 Things You Never Knew About Princess Kate
Updated Sep. 13, 2024
Princess Kate is a woman who needs no introduction, but we’ll give her one anyway. She is one of the most popular members of the British royal family, a devoted mother of three, a style icon and, with Prince William next in line for the throne, the future queen of England. And while she has always been a relatable royal, much like Princess Diana, we recently got a more intimate glimpse into her life with a video released on Sept. 10, in which Kate announced that she had completed chemotherapy and was on the path to recovery from cancer. We may all feel like we know her … but how much do you really know about the Princess of Wales, aka Kate Middleton?
If you’ve ever wondered about Kate’s guilty pleasures, her secret nicknames or her first crush, you’re in the right place! Reader’s Digest talked to royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams to uncover some surprising Princess Kate facts you never knew. Read on to find out exactly what they are.
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Kate was nicknamed after a guinea pig
Yes, you read that right! When Kate visited her old prep school, St. Andrew’s, in 2012, she revealed her secret childhood nickname: Squeak. “She explained that her school had guinea pigs, and two of them were called Squeak and Pip,” Fitzwilliams says. “So Kate and Pippa went along with the names. Kate was Squeak, while Pippa was known as Pip.”
It seems that Kate still adores the squeaky little pets: She and William now share their home, Adelaide Cottage, not only with their three kids and a cocker spaniel but also with a few guinea pigs. “I spend my life cleaning out the guinea-pig cage because the children forget to do it,” quipped William during a royal engagement in Birmingham in 2024.
Her teenage crush was a Levi’s model, not Prince William
It was the perfect fairy tale: When Kate and William went public as a couple, it was rumored that the future princess had a poster of the prince on her bedroom wall when she was a teenager, long before she fell in love with him in real life. Sadly, the romantic story turned out to be (royal) fan fiction. And it was Kate herself who put an end to it in her televised engagement interview in 2010. When asked if the story was true, she looked at William, then cheekily responded, “He wishes!” She went on to say, “No, I had the Levi’s guy on my bedroom wall, not a picture of William. Sorry!”
She founded an all-girls drinking club in college
College and boozing go hand in hand for many students, and Kate was no exception to the rule. In fact, when she attended St. Andrews University, she reportedly founded a women-only drinking club, according to Fitzwilliams. The reason? “She wasn’t allowed to join the existing ones, as they were for men only,” he says.
Now a mom of three, Kate still seems to enjoy a glass of red once in a while. After the Prince and Princess of Wales visited the Mission Hill Winery in British Columbia as part of their tour through Canada in 2016, Graham Nordin, who showed the pair around, told a reporter that they “really enjoyed the Oculus,” a Bordeaux-style wine. He also shared that they are keen merlot drinkers.
She briefly worked as a waitress—but was “terrible” at it
Like most college students, Kate had a part-time job to bring in some extra cash: As she revealed on the BBC show A Berry Royal Christmas in 2019, she waitressed for a short time while studying at St. Andrews. When asked if she was any good at it, she laughed and admitted, “No, I was terrible.”
After finishing her degree, Kate worked for her parents’ party-planning business, Party Pieces, before becoming an accessories buyer for British design brand Jigsaw Junior. “Kate had to think carefully about her next steps after university, especially during the time when there were glitches in her relationship with Prince William,” says Fitzwilliams. While everything worked out with William in the end, Fitzwilliams believes this foray into “normal life” may have been the best thing for her future family. “Having had regular jobs before marrying into the royal family now helps her in bringing up her children in the most normal way possible,” he explains.
Her go-to food is a spicy curry
Whether it’s homemade or from a restaurant, Kate loves a good curry. “It seems to be her favorite go-to food, and her children like it too,” Fitzwilliams says. In an interview with BBC 1 in 2023, Kate revealed that William, unlike her, wasn’t too fond of spicy food, so she’d always cook a mild curry at home and then add some extra spice just to her own portion.
Other dishes the princess seems to enjoy? Pâté on toasted brioche, roasted figs on parma ham and sticky toffee pudding, according to Fitzwilliams and a former chef at one of her favorite pubs in her hometown.
She has a competitive streak
Kate has always been athletic. “During her days at Marlborough College, she played field hockey and was the captain of her team,” Fitzwilliams says. “She also set a high jump record of 1.5 meters in primary school that still stands today.” She was also seen swimming and playing tennis and volleyball as a university student.
And being a senior royal hasn’t stopped her from embracing her athletic side and occasionally ditching the royal dress code for some casual sports attire. “Archery, boat racing, sailing—you name it, she loves it,” Fitzwilliams says, adding that Kate loves challenging her husband to a friendly competition in public. “The most relaxed we ever see Kate is when she is doing something sporty. She is very competitive and likes to tease William when they compete against each other. Sports gives her the chance to be more informal than during a regular royal outing.”
She starred in a Wimbledon video
The Princess of Wales is a tennis buff, and she most recently attended the men’s final at Wimbledon in 2024. But her commitment to the sports doesn’t stop with cheering on the athletes. She is also the patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, which hosts Wimbledon every year. And, as Fitzwilliams points out, she even starred in a video for Wimbledon in 2020. The commercial came out at the height of the pandemic, when the world-famous championships had to be canceled due to government rules. In the video, Kate told tennis fans to keep their spirits high and promised that “we will be back again” and “it will have been worth the wait.”
Kate makes her own honey
Kate’s passion for photography is widely documented. The Princess of Wales regularly shares cute pictures of her kids on special occasions, such as their birthdays and holidays. But here’s a Princess Kate fact you probably never heard: Kate is also a dedicated beekeeper! In fact, the future queen has her very own beehive at her family home, Anmer Hall, in Norfolk.
And Kate seems to be quite an expert. When she met schoolchildren at London’s Natural History Museum in 2021, she talked all things bees with them and even gave them a homemade jar of honey. Beekeeping seems to run in the Middleton family: Kate’s brother, James, also owns a beehive.
Kate played the piano on Eurovision
Kate likes playing the piano—and she’s very good at it. According to media reports, she took lessons at school and re-embraced her passion for music during lockdown. However, it took her 10 years into her marriage to William to share her skills with the public. “During a Christmas concert at Westminster Abbey in 2021, Kate surprised everyone when she accompanied Scottish singer Tom Walker on the piano,” says Fitzwilliams. The pair performed his hit “For Those Who Can’t Be Here,” an experience Walker later described as “mad” and “surreal.”
Two years later, the princess publicly hit the ivories again: When Liverpool hosted the Eurovision Song Contest, the largest televised live music event in the world, reaching around 160 million viewers in more than 40 countries, Kate was seen playing on King Charles’s Steinway piano at Windsor Castle in a prerecorded cameo. “It was very unusual to have a senior royal participate in this show,” says Fitzwilliams. “Unsurprisingly, her performance became an instant hit.”
She loves the British version of Dancing with the Stars
Guilty-pleasure alert! In 2019, William revealed at a charity gala that Kate loves Strictly Come Dancing, the British equivalent of Dancing with the Stars. “[Kate] is a huge fan, and my mother-in-law loves it,” he said, according to the Telegraph.
But it’s not all reality TV, all the time, in their royal digs: While she’s reportedly not a fan of The Crown, Kate loves the British historical drama Downtown Abbey. In fact, she visited the London set in 2015 and seemed to have a blast chatting with cast members and producers.
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At Reader’s Digest, we’re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers’ personal experiences where appropriate. For this piece on Princess Kate facts, Astrid Hofer tapped her experience as a London-based journalist with more than 20 years of experience covering topics including the British royal family. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
Sources:
- Richard Fitzwilliams, royal expert; phone interview, Sept. 6, 2024
- ITV News: “William and Kate’s 2010 engagement interview”
- The Guardian: “Girl, interrupted”
- HuffPost UK: “Kate Middleton once had a server job and says she was ‘terrible’ at it”
- Town & Country: “Kate Middleton cooks this surprising dish for Prince William”
- The Telegraph: “Duchess of Cambridge is ‘huge’ Strictly Come Dancing fan, her husband reveals”
- Metro: “Kate Middleton visited the Downtown Abbey set and had a ripping good time”
- Tatler: “A glimpse into life at Adelaide Cottage: Prince William reveals an insight into his charming family dynamic as he opens up about his pets during a royal engagement.”
- Harper’s Bazaar: “Duchess Kate dabbles in beekeeping and makes her own honey”
- Yahoo: “Prince William and Kate Middleton love this hidden wine region—Here’s how to visit”
Originally Published: September 13, 2024
