Who is Catherine, Princess of Wales?
Catherine Elizabeth Middleton was born at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading on 9 January 1982 into an upper-middle-class family. She was baptised at St Andrew's Bradfield, a local parish church, on 20 June 1982.
Here you can see a part of the interior of the
Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's home:
Kensington Palace in London
Family
She is the eldest of three children born to Michael Middleton (b. 1949) and his wife, Carole (née Goldsmith; b. 1955),a former flight dispatcher and flight attendant, respectively, who in 1987 founded Party Pieces, a privately held mail order company that sells party supplies and decorations with an estimated worth of £30 million.
By the early 20th century, the Middleton family had married into the British aristocracy and benefited financially from trust funds which they established over 100 years ago.
Her Middleton relatives, including her great-grandmother Olive Middleton, played host to members of the British royal family in the 1920s and 1930s.
Her mother's family are descended from coal miners, and have been described as working-class.
Catherine has a younger sister, Pippa, and a younger brother, James.
Childhood & youth
The family moved from Bradfield Southend, Berkshire, to Amman, Jordan, in May 1984, where her father worked for British Airways. Middleton attended an English-language nursery school.
When her family returned to Berkshire in September 1986, she was enrolled aged four at St Andrew's School, a private school near Pangbourne in Berkshire. She boarded part-weekly at St Andrew's in her
later years.
In 1995, the Middletons moved to the village of Bucklebury. She studied at Downe House School. She was a boarder at Marlborough College, a co-educational independent boarding school in Wiltshire.
Middleton showed talent in sports and was captain of the women's field hockey team.While at Marlborough, she underwent an operation on the left side of her head, reportedly to remove a lump.
After her studies, she took a gap year, studying at the British Institute of Florence in Italy and travelling to Chile to participate in a Raleigh International programme.
She worked as a deckhand at the Port of Southampton in the summer preceding university.
Middleton subsequently enrolled at University of St Andrews in Fife, Scotland, studying history of art. She briefly studied psychology before focusing solely on art history. She worked part-time as a waitress during her studies.
While attending university, she achieved a gold Duke of Edinburgh Award. Middleton was an active member of The Lumsden Club, which held fundraisers and community projects each year.
In 2005, Middleton graduated from the University of St Andrews with an undergraduate MA (2:1 Hons) in the history of art.
A royal romance
In 2001, Middleton met Prince William while they were students in residence at St Salvator's Hall at the University of St Andrews.She reportedly caught William's eye at a charity fashion show at the university in 2002 when she appeared on the stage wearing a see-through lace dress.
The couple reportedly began dating in 2003. During their second year, Middleton shared a flat with William and two other friends.
From 2003 to 2005, they both resided at Balgove House on the Strathtyrum estate with two roommates.
After her graduation, Middleton and her family were faced with intensive tabloid press scrutiny. She was often photographed daily by the paparazzi outside her flat and work over the course of their relationship.
She attended William's Passing Out Parade at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on 15 December 2006. In April 2007, they ended their relationship.
She and her family attended the Concert for Diana in July 2007, where she and William sat two rows apart. It was subsequently reported that the couple had reconciled.
On 17 May 2008, Middleton attended the wedding of William's cousin Peter Phillips to Autumn Kelly in William's stead, and met Queen Elizabeth II for the first time.
Middleton attended the Order of the Garter procession at Windsor Castle in June 2008, where Prince William was made a Royal Knight of the Garter.
On 19 July 2008, she was a guest at the wedding of Lady Rose Windsor and George Gilman. Prince William was away on military operations in the Caribbean, serving aboard HMS Iron Duke.
In June 2010, the couple moved into a cottage on the Bodorgan Estate in Anglesey, Wales, where Prince William resided during his RAF search- and-rescue training and subsequent career.
Marriage
Middleton and Prince William became engaged in October 2010, in Kenya, during a 10-day trip to the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy to celebrate William passing the RAF helicopter search and rescue course.
Clarence House announced the engagement on 16 November 2010. Prince William gave Middleton the engagement ring that had belonged to his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales. Middleton, who was christened as a child, decided to be confirmed into the Church of England preceding her wedding. The confirmation service was conducted on 10 March at St James's Palace by the Bishop of London with her family and William in attendance.
The couple married in Westminster Abbey on 29 April 2011 (St. Catherine's Day), with the day declared a bank holiday in the United Kingdom.
Estimates of the global audience for the wedding ranged around 300 million or more, whilst 26 million watched the event live in Britain alone. We learned that day that our television was ready for a replacement because the wedding dress of the Duchess of Cambridge turned out green.
Her wedding dress was designed by Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen. Upon her marriage, Catherine assumed the style "Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge".
The couple were given the country home, Anmer Hall, on the Sandringham Estate, as a wedding gift from the Queen.The Duke and Duchess owned an English Cocker Spaniel, Lupo, from December 2011 to November 2020.
On 3 December 2012, St James's Palace announced that the Duchess was pregnant with her first child. The announcement was made earlier in the pregnancy than is usual as she had been admitted to
King Edward VII's Hospital suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum, a severe form of morning sickness. She remained in hospital for three days.
King Edward VII's Hospital suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum, a severe form of morning sickness. She remained in hospital for three days.
Prince George was born at St Mary's Hospital in London on 22 July 2013. The severe morning sickness returned with the subsequent pregnancies, forcing Catherine to cancel her official engagements.
She gave birth to Princess Charlotte on 2 May 2015 and to Prince Louis on 23 April 2018. It was amazing that the Duchess of Cambridge showed her three children on the day they were born.
Prince George became third in the line of succession to the British throne, while Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis are fourth and fifth, respectively. The family officially reside at Kensington Palace in London
Duty
Middleton's first public appearance with Prince William following their engagement was at a fundraising event organised by the Teenage Cancer Trust in December 2010.
She was formally introduced to public life on 24 February 2011, when the couple attended a lifeboat-naming ceremony in Trearddur, near their home at the time in Anglesey, North Wales.
A day later they appeared in St Andrews to launch the university's 600th anniversary celebrations. In March 2011, the couple toured Belfast. The Duchess of Cambridge's first official engagement after the wedding came in May, when she and the Duke met U.S President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at Buckingham Palace.
The Duke and Duchess's first royal tour of Canada took place in July 2011. The couple's activities included attending celebrations for Canada Day. The tour included a two-day trip to California.
On 26 October 2011, she undertook her first solo engagement at a reception for In Kind Direct, hosted at Clarence House, stepping in for the Prince of Wales.
On 2 November, Catherine and William visited the UNICEF Supply Division for malnourished children in Copenhagen, Denmark.On St. Patrick's Day in 2012, the Duchess carried out the traditional awarding of shamrocks to the Irish Guards at their Aldershot base; this was her first solo military engagement.
On 19 March, she gave her first public speech for the opening of a children's hospice opened by her patronage, East Anglia's Children's Hospices.
The Duke and Duchess were announced as ambassadors for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. As part of her role, Catherine attended numerous sporting events throughout the games.
In September 2012, the couple embarked on a tour of Singapore, Malaysia, Tuvalu, and the Solomon Islands to commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee across the Commonwealth. During this overseas visit, she made her first official speech abroad, while visiting a hospice in Malaysia, drawing on her experience as patron of East Anglia's Children's Hospices.The Duke and Duchess attended further celebrations of the Jubilee throughout the year, including the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant in July.
The first engagement that Catherine carried out after the birth of Prince George was in late August 2013, when she accompanied her husband to meet runners preparing for an ultra-marathon in Anglesey.
At the beginning of March 2014, it was announced that the couple would be accompanied by their son on an upcoming tour of New Zealand and Australia from 16 to 25 April.
The tour was Catherine's first visit to the area and Prince George's first major public appearance since his christening in October 2013.The tour itinerary included visiting the Plunket Society for children and visiting fire-damaged areas in New South Wales.
In June 2014, the couple visited France to attend the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Normandy landings at Gold Beach.
On 21 July 2014,it was announced that the Duchess would be making her first solo trip, visiting the island of Malta on 20–21 September 2014, when the island was celebrating its 50th independence anniversary.
Her trip was cancelled, with the Duke taking her place, after the announcement of her second pregnancy in early September. In December 2014, the couple visited the United States and attended a charity dinner at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
On 4 August 2014, the Duchess of Cambridge also visited Liège in Belgium. She attended the Ceremony at the Allies' Memorial in Cointe during Ceremonies organized by the Belgian federal government to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War at Basilique de Cointe.
She was accompanied by the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry (now the Duke of Sussex). See this link.
She was accompanied by the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry (now the Duke of Sussex). See this link.
In October 2015, the Duchess attended her first state banquet at Buckingham Palace, held to host Chinese President Xi Jinping.In April 2016, Catherine and William undertook a tour to India and Bhutan.
Later that month, the couple met again with the Obamas at Kensington Palace. The Duke and Duchess toured Canada again in September 2016.
On 11 October 2016, Catherine made her first solo foreign trip to The Netherlands. Countries visited by the couple in 2017 include France, Poland, Germany, and Belgium.
The Duchess takes official portraits of her children and joined the Royal Photographic Society in 2017.She visited Luxembourg City in May 2017 for the Treaty of London commemorations.In January 2018, the couple visited Sweden and Norway.In February 2019, the Duke and Duchess carried out a two-day visit of Northern Ireland, visiting Belfast, Fermanagh, and Ballymena.
In June 2019, the Duchess took the royal first salute, typically received by the Queen, at the Beating Retreat military pageant.Catherine accompanied her husband on a tour of Pakistan in October 2019, the royal family's first visit to the country in 13 years.
In March 2020, the couple carried out a three-day tour of Ireland, visiting County Meath, Kildare, and Galway.
In October 2020, the Duke and Duchess met Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, and First Lady Olena Zelenska, at Buckingham Palace, the first royal engagement held at the residence since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In December, the couple embarked on a three-day tour of England, Scotland, and Wales via the British Royal Train "to pay tribute to the inspiring work of individuals, organisations and initiatives across the country " in 2020.
In May 2021, the couple returned to Scotland for an extensive tour of Edinburgh, Fife and Orkney.In Cornwall on 11 June 2021, William and Catherine attended the G7 summit for the first time. The Duchess visited primary students alongside First Lady Jill Biden and participated in a roundtable discussion focusing on early childhood education.
Charity
Following her marriage, the Duchess assumed royal duties and commitments in support of the Queen.
In March 2011, the Duke and Duchess set up a gift fund held by The Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry to allow well-wishers who wanted to give them a wedding gift to donate money to charities they care about instead.
The gift fund supported 26 charities of the couple's choice, incorporating the armed forces, children, the elderly, art, sport and conservation.
In June 2012, The Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry was renamed The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, to reflect Catherine's contribution to the charity.The charity is now (in 2022) listed as The Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
The Duchess's charity work focuses mainly on issues surrounding young children, mental health, sport, addiction, and art.Her impact on charitable donations and project visibility has been called the "Kate effect".
She has a number of charitable patronages: Action for Children, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, the Anna Freud Centre, East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH), Evelina London Children's Hospital, Family Action, the National Portrait Gallery, the Natural History Museum, NHS Charities Together, Place2Be, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, SportsAid,
The 1851 Trust, The Foundling Museum, The Lawn Tennis Association, the Royal Photographic Society, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The Duchess, as a history of art graduate, takes an interest in art and handpicked the Art Room, which helped disadvantaged children access art therapy before their closure, as well as the National Portrait Gallery. She acquired patronage of The Lawn Tennis Association, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Action for Children, and the Royal Photographic Society after they were passed
down by the Queen.
In December 2015, she assumed the patronage of the Royal Air Force Air Cadets for youths 12–19 years of age. The Duke of Edinburgh, who had been patron of the RAF Cadets for 63 years, formally handed over during an audience at Buckingham Palace.Catherine was also a local volunteer leader
with The Scout Association in north Wales,of which the Queen is patron, before being made co-president in September 2020, alongside the Duke of Kent.
The Duchess is a keen sportswoman and attends Wimbledon annually, as patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. In 2012, together with the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry, Catherine launched Coach Core.
The programme was set up following the 2012 Olympics and provides apprenticeship opportunities for people who desire to pursue a career as a professional coach.
As of 2018, Coach Core has had over 400 apprentices and graduates across 10 locations. In 2014 she and the Duke were awarded Honorary Life Membership of the Marylebone Cricket Club.
In July 2019, she lent her support to Backyard Nature, a campaign created to inspire "children, families and communities to get outside and engage with nature".
In August 2019, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge competed in the King's Cup yachting regatta to raise money for eight different charities.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Catherine undertook many in-person and virtual engagements supporting National Health Service workers.
In May and June 2020, the Duke and Duchess, alongside their children, delivered food parcels made on the Sandringham Estate to local isolated pensioners during lockdown.The Duchess discreetly volunteered with the Royal Voluntary Service during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Duchess has called herself an "enthusiastic amateur photographer" and has taken official portraits of her children, as well as other members of the royal family.
As patron of the Royal Photographic Society she and other photographers took part in an exhibition to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust. Photos taken by Catherine of the Holocaust survivors were later included in an exhibition at the Imperial War Museum.
With the National Portrait Gallery, Catherine curated an exhibition of Victorian photography, with a thematic focus on childhood.
In May 2020, the Duchess launched "Hold Still", a project to capture people's life during lockdown, which garnered 31,000 submissions.
In July 2020, the exhibition was released, with the final 100 photographs being displayed online. In October 2020, the portraits were displayed on 112 public sites, including billboards, murals, and posters, across 80 towns and cities.
In October 2021, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, London to take part in Generation Earthshot, an educational initiative inspired by the Earthshot Prize.
Catherine hosted a Christmas carol concert called "Together At Christmas" at Westminster Abbey in December 2021, honouring charities and individuals that served the communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The concert was produced by Westminster Abbey and BBC Studios Events Productions and broadcast by ITV. The Duchess played the piano during a performance of "For Those Who Can't Be Here" by Tom Walker. You can see this performance on Youtube on this link.
2022
On her father-in-law's accession to the throne on 8 September 2022, Catherine also became Duchess of Cornwall and Duchess of Rothesay. She was thus briefly called "Her Royal Highness The Duchess of
Cornwall and Cambridge".
Cornwall and Cambridge".
On 9 September 2022, the King announced the appointment of William as Prince of Wales, with Catherine becoming Princess of Wales. She has since been known as "Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales", and as "Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Rothesay" in Scotland
Conclusion
I hope this post will become larger over the years as Catherine Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge
will grow in her role as future queen.
Source pictures: Wikipedia + book covers
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