Catherine, Princess of Wales (born Catherine Elizabeth Middleton; 9 January 1982) is a member of the British royal family. She is married to William, Prince of Wales, the heir apparent to the British throne.
Born in Reading, Catherine grew up in Bucklebury, Berkshire. She was educated at St Andrew's School and Marlborough College before earning a degree in art history at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, where she met Prince William in 2001 and graduated in 2005. She held several jobs and undertook charity work before their engagement was announced in November 2010. She became Duchess of Cambridge on their marriage at Westminster Abbey on 29 April 2011. The couple have three children: George, Charlotte, and Louis. She became Princess of Wales on 9 September 2022, when William was created Prince of Wales by his father, King Charles III. In early 2024, she was diagnosed with cancer, underwent chemotherapy, and resumed duties later that year.
Following her marriage, Catherine has undertaken royal duties and engagements in support of the monarch and has represented the royal family on official overseas tours. Her charitable work, largely through the Royal Foundation, focuses on early childhood, addiction, and the arts. She is patron of several charitable and military organisations, including the Anna Freud Centre, Action for Children, SportsAid, and the National Portrait Gallery. To encourage public discussion of mental health, she helped develop the Heads Together campaign, launched with William and her brother-in-law Harry in April 2016.
Catherine's relationship with the media has attracted sustained attention, particularly her efforts to maintain privacy amid significant public interest. Her influence on fashion has been described as the "Kate Middleton effect". Catherine was named one of Time's most influential people in 2011, 2012, and 2013.
Early life and education
Catherine Elizabeth Middleton was born on 9 January 1982 at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, the eldest child of Michael Middleton and Carole Middleton (née Goldsmith). Her parents were employed by British Airways; her father as a flight dispatcher and her mother as a flight attendant. She was baptised on 20 June at St Andrew's Bradfield, the local parish church. Catherine has two younger siblings, Philippa ("Pippa") (born 1983) and James (born 1987). Her paternal relatives benefited from family trust funds and were regarded as upper-middle-class with connections to the landed gentry; her great-grandparents Noël and Olive Middleton hosted members of the British royal family from the 1920s to the 1940s. Her maternal family, descended from coal miners, have been described as working-class.
In 1984, the Middletons moved from Bradfield Southend, Berkshire, to Amman, Jordan, where Catherine attended an English-language nursery school. Following the family's return to Berkshire in September 1986, she was enrolled at St Andrew's School near Pangbourne, a private school, where she later boarded part-weekly. In 1987, her mother founded Party Pieces, a privately owned mail-order company supplying party goods. The family relocated to Bucklebury in 1995, and Catherine continued her education at Downe House School, before becoming a boarder at Marlborough College in Wiltshire. At Marlborough, she played several sports and captained the girls' field hockey team. She earned a gold Duke of Edinburgh Award and underwent an operation on the left side of her head, reportedly to remove a lump, during this period.
Although offered a place at the University of Edinburgh, Middleton took a gap year, studying at the British Institute of Florence and travelling to Chile to join a Raleigh International programme. She worked as a deckhand at the Port of Southampton during the summer preceding university. She subsequently enrolled at the University of St Andrews in Fife, initially studying psychology before focusing solely on art history. While at university, she worked part-time as a waitress and was an active member of The Lumsden Club, which organised fundraising events and community projects. She graduated in 2005 with an undergraduate Master of Arts (2:1 Hons) in art history.
Personal life
Relationship with Prince William
In 2001, Middleton met Prince William while they were students in residence at St Salvator's Hall. She reportedly caught William's attention at a charity fashion show at the university in 2002. The couple began dating in 2003. During their second year, Middleton shared a flat with William and two friends. From 2003 until 2005, they lived at Balgove House on the Strathtyrum estate with two roommates. They also began staying at Tam-Na-Ghar, a cottage on the Balmoral estate that had been given to William by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother shortly before her death. The property has remained a private retreat for the couple in subsequent years. In 2004, the couple briefly separated before resuming their relationship.
In November 2006, Middleton commenced part-time work for 12 months as an accessories buyer with the clothing chain Jigsaw. She also worked as a project manager in the family business, where she was responsible for the website and catalogue.
Middleton attended William's Passing Out Parade at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in December 2006. In April 2007, they ended their relationship. It was subsequently reported that the couple had reconciled. In May 2008, Middleton attended the wedding of William's cousin Peter Phillips to Autumn Kelly in William's place, meeting Queen Elizabeth II for the first time.
Middleton attended the Order of the Garter procession at Windsor Castle in June 2008, where William was made a Royal Knight of the Garter. In July 2008, she was a guest at the wedding of Lady Rose Windsor and George Gilman while William was serving in the Caribbean aboard HMS Iron Duke. In June 2010, the couple moved into a cottage on the Bodorgan Estate in Anglesey, Wales, where William lived during his RAF search and rescue training and subsequent career. Before her marriage, Middleton lived with her sister Pippa in an apartment owned by their parents in Chelsea, London.
Marriage and children
Middleton and William became engaged in October 2010 at a remote alpine cabin on Mount Kenya during a ten-day visit to the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. Clarence House announced the engagement on 16 November that year. William gave her the engagement ring that had belonged to his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales. Middleton was confirmed into the Church of England on 10 March at St James's Palace by the Bishop of London, with her family and William in attendance, ahead of the wedding.
The couple married on 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey on St Catherine's Day. The day was declared a bank holiday in the United Kingdom. Estimates of the global audience for the wedding reached around 300 million, whilst 26 million watched the event live in Britain. Her wedding dress was designed by Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen. Catherine was styled as "Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge". The couple were given Anmer Hall, a country home on the Sandringham estate, as a wedding gift from the Queen.
In December 2012, St James's Palace announced that Catherine was pregnant with her first child. The announcement was made earlier than usual as she had been admitted to King Edward VII's Hospital with hyperemesis gravidarum, a severe form of morning sickness. She gave birth to Prince George at St Mary's Hospital, London, in July 2013. The condition recurred during her subsequent pregnancies, leading Catherine to cancel official engagements. She gave birth to Princess Charlotte in May 2015 and to Prince Louis in April 2018. George, Charlotte, and Louis were respectively third, fourth, and fifth in the line of succession to the British throne at the times of their births. Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, they became second, third, and fourth in line to the throne. They owned an English Cocker Spaniel, Lupo, who died in 2020, and now have Orla and one of her puppies, Otto, both of the same breed.
Following their marriage, Catherine and William continued to reside in Anglesey in a rented four-bedroom farmhouse on the Bodorgan Home Farm estate while William worked as an RAF search and rescue pilot. They also used Nottingham Cottage as their London residence. In 2013, they moved into the 20-room Apartment 1A at Kensington Palace, which had been renovated over 18 months at a cost of £4.5 million. It became their main residence in 2017. In September 2022, the family moved to Adelaide Cottage in the grounds of Windsor Castle, where they lived until October 2025. Forest Lodge is their current residence.
Health
In January 2024, Kensington Palace announced that Catherine had undergone planned abdominal surgery at the London Clinic for an undisclosed condition. She postponed engagements through March, prompting public speculation and conspiracy theories.
On 22 March, in a video message, Catherine revealed that post-operative tests had found cancer and that she had begun chemotherapy in late February. Her leave was extended as treatment continued.
Catherine returned to public view at Trooping the Colour in June. In September, she announced the end of chemotherapy and her intention to resume duties. In October, she met families of the victims of the 2024 Southport stabbings in her first official engagement since treatment. In January 2025, following a visit to the Royal Marsden Hospital, where she had received treatment, Catherine confirmed she was in remission.
Duchess of Cambridge
Within the United Kingdom
Middleton made her first public appearance with William following their engagement announcement in November 2010 at a fundraiser organised by the Teenage Cancer Trust in December. She made her first official public appearance in February 2011, when the couple attended a lifeboat-naming ceremony in Trearddur. The following month, they undertook a visit to Belfast.
Catherine's first official engagement after her wedding came in May that year, when she and William met US president Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at Buckingham Palace. Reporters noted the warm exchanges between the two families. In October, she carried out her first solo engagement at a reception for In Kind Direct at Clarence House, standing in for the then Prince Charles. In March 2012, she gave her first public speech at the opening of a children's hospice supported by her patronage, East Anglia's Children's Hospices. She and William were announced as ambassadors for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, attending numerous sporting events throughout the Games. They also took part in celebrations marking Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee, including the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant in July. They made their first visit to Cambridge as Duke and Duchess in November 2012.
In February 2019, Catherine and William undertook a two‑day visit to Northern Ireland, visiting Belfast, Fermanagh, and Ballymena. The visit highlighted the region's young people and acknowledged progress made in overcoming long‑standing divisions. In June, Catherine took the royal first salute at the Beating Retreat military pageant, a role traditionally performed by the Queen.
In October 2020, she and William met President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine and his First Lady Olena Zelenska at Buckingham Palace, marking the first royal engagement there since the start of the COVID‑19 pandemic. Zelenskyy later expressed his appreciation for the couple's support for Ukraine and its people. In December, they embarked on a three‑day tour of England, Scotland, and Wales aboard the British Royal Train to recognise the work of individuals and organisations during the pandemic. The initiative received mixed political responses: Boris Johnson expressed support, while Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon criticised the tour in light of travel restrictions; all three devolved governments had been consulted during the planning.
Catherine and William attended the G7 summit for the first time in June 2021 in Cornwall. During the summit, Catherine met Jill Biden for the first time, and the pair visited Connor Downs Academy, where they spoke with students and took part in a roundtable discussion on early education.
Outside the United Kingdom
Catherine and William undertook their first royal tour of Canada in June–July 2011. The tour included a two-day visit to California, which also marked her first trip to the United States. Nicholas Witchell of BBC News described the tour as an "unqualified success", noting that the couple's relaxed manner – from tree planting to street hockey – charmed the public and strengthened support for the monarchy. In September 2012, they toured Singapore, Malaysia, Tuvalu, and the Solomon Islands as part of celebrations marking Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee across the Commonwealth. During the visit, Catherine delivered her first official speech abroad at a hospice in Malaysia, drawing on her experience as patron of East Anglia's Children's Hospices.
The couple, accompanied by their son, visited Australia and New Zealand in April 2014. Australia's prime minister, Tony Abbott, described the tour as "one of the very best royal visits" the country had hosted. In June, they travelled to France to attend commemorations marking the 70th anniversary of the Normandy landings at Gold Beach. Later that year, they visited the United States. The tour combined diplomatic engagements, including a visit to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, with events reflecting their personal interests, such as attending an NBA match between the Brooklyn Nets and the Cleveland Cavaliers.