Kate Middleton Asked Friends to Start Calling Her Catherine Instead of Kate in a 'Humorous Email'

Mar. 15, 2025

Kate Middleton.Photo:MICHAEL DUNLEA/AFP via Getty

MICHAEL DUNLEA/AFP via Getty

By the timePrince Williamproposed in 2010 after roughly eight years together (save fora brief split in 2007),Kate Middleton’s name was known worldwide. However, she had already been preparing for a more formal change to her moniker.

The name switch occurred in 2008, two years before William ultimately popped the question. But, “Inevitably all this led to a flurry of speculation about a potential royal title in the future,” although then Prince Charles’ communications secretary Paddy Harverson “flatly denied” that assumption, Jobson continues.

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Kate Middleton and Prince William at their engagement announcement in 2010.Chris Jackson/Getty

The 2008 email to friends wouldn’t be the only time what to call the future Princess of Wales was debated.

Kate’s brother-in-law,Prince Harry, shared an anecdote about her moniker in his 2023 memoir,Spare, writing thatKing Charlesonce asked his daughter-in-law to change the spelling of her first name to Katherine with a “K” instead of with a “C”: “This was because there were already two royal cyphers with the letter C in them — and they didn’t want another,” the Duke of Sussex wrote, referring to not just Charles and his wife,Queen Camilla, who was known as the Duchess of Cornwall at the time.

“Make it Katherine with a K, they suggested,” Harry said in the book. The Duke of Sussex wrote that he spoke to his brother, Prince William, at the time about their father’s suggestion: “I turned to Willy, gave him a look that said, ‘You listening to this?’ His face was blank.”

Prince William, Kate Middleton and Prince Harry at Princess Eugenie’s wedding in October 2018.Owen Humphreys - WPA Pool/Getty

Queen Elizabeth granted Prince William and Kate the royal titles of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their wedding day in 2011. However, King Charles announced they would be the Prince and Princess of Wales following his accession in 2022, giving his eldest son the traditional title of the heir to the throne.

According to experts at Debrett’s, a U.K. authority on etiquette and titles, she is properly styled as Catherine, Princess of Wales rather than Princess Catherine. Also technically correct: Princess William of Wales.

Prince William and the palace regularly reference her as Catherine in statements and formal communications, though the public and press colloquially call her Kate, as do some of her own friends.

source: people.com