Catherine Princess of Wales.

When Catherine was two years old, her family moved to Amman, Jordan, for two and a half years due to her father’s job. Born on January 9, 1982 at Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, she grew up in Berkshire with her parents Carole and Michael Middleton and her siblings Pippa and James. Her mother worked as a flight attendant and her father as a flight dispatcher for British Airways; in 1987 they founded Party Pieces, a successful mail-order party supply company.

She attended St Andrew’s School in Pangbourne until 1995, then Marlborough College where she studied Chemistry, Biology, and Art at A-level and earned a Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award. After a gap year that included studying at the British Institute in Florence and volunteering in Chile via Raleigh International, Catherine enrolled at the University of St Andrews in 2001. She graduated in 2005 with a 2:1 in History of Art.

In October 2010, Prince William proposed to Catherine in Kenya with the engagement ring that once belonged to his mother, Princess Diana. The engagement was publicly announced on November 16, 2010, and the couple married on April 29, 2011, at Westminster Abbey, where Catherine became Duchess of Cambridge, Countess of Strathearn, and Baroness Carrickfergus.

After her marriage, Catherine took on royal duties and became patron of several charities, including Action on Addiction, the National Portrait Gallery, East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices, The Art Room, and the Scout Association. She has appeared in documentaries such as The Queen’s Green Planet 2018 and The Coronation of TM King Charles III and Queen Camilla 2023, and in 2024 she appeared in The Final: Attack on Wembley.

Vanity Fair placed Catherine at #1 on its Best Dressed list in 2010, 2011, and 2012. She also worked briefly for her parents’ company Party Pieces and as a part-time buyer at Jigsaw Junior in London before her marriage.

After the death of Queen Elizabeth II on September 8, 2022, Catherine’s husband became Prince of Wales, and she became Princess of Wales, a title last held by Princess Diana.

Catherine first met Prince William in 2001 at the University of St Andrews, where they both studied. They began living together during their university years and after graduation, a relationship that was widely reported by the press, who nicknamed her Waity Katie due to the long courtship. The couple married in 2011 and have three children: Prince George born July 22, 2013, Princess Charlotte born May 2, 2015, and Prince Louis born April 23, 2018.

Catherine comes from a close-knit family. Her sister Pippa Middleton married in 2017 and has children, while her brother James Middleton runs a cake business. Catherine is a distant cousin of her husband, being the 15th cousin once removed. She also has a dog named Lupo.

Vanity Fair consistently ranked Catherine among the world’s best-dressed women, placing her at #1 from 2010 to 2012. Time magazine named her one of the 100 Most Influential People in 2013. Her patronage of children’s hospices and addiction charities has highlighted her commitment to early childhood and mental health.

As the first royal bride to a future king to have lived with her partner before marriage, Catherine broke with tradition. She is expected to become the first British queen consort with a university degree and the first non-aristocrat to hold that role. Since September 2022, she has held the title Princess of Wales, a role that carries significant historical weight following Princess Diana. Catherine is most remembered for her elegance, philanthropic work, and modern approach to royal duties.