Facts about Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales

Here we take a look at the interesting life of Princess Kate, wife of Prince William and mother of George, Charlotte and Louis.

Catherine, Princess of Wales was born on Jan 9, 1982. A member of the British royal family, her husband, Prince William, Prince of Wales, is first in the line of succession to the British throne, making Catherine a likely future Queen.

She grew up in the village of Chapel Row, part of Bucklebury near Newbury in the English county of Berkshire. She studied art history at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, where she met William in 2001. Their engagement was announced in November 2010 and they married on 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey. The couple has three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis.

The family's official residence is Kensington Palace. As well as undertaking royal duties in support of The King, both in the United Kingdom and overseas, The Princess devotes her time to supporting a number of charitable causes and organizations, several of which are centred around providing children with the best possible start in life.

🎂 Wishing The Princess of Wales a very Happy Birthday today! pic.twitter.com/IXfc9LItG9

— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) January 9, 2023

Early support for children

For several years The Princess has been working with experts and organisations that are championing the importance of providing solid psychological, social and emotional platforms for children in their earliest years of life in order to support their mental health and emotional resilience and to provide them with the foundations to lead to healthy and fulfilling adulthoods.

In March 2018, The Princess announced during a symposium at the Royal Society for Medicine that she has convened a steering group to look at what can be done to make a positive difference in the lives of children, by focusing on their earliest stage of life, from pre-birth to five years of age. 

Children's mental health

As part of Her Royal Highness's work around the early years, The Princess of Wales is a committed champion of issues related to children’s mental health and emotional well-being. Her Royal Highness has worked to bring wider public attention to the fact that issues facing children today such as addiction, poverty, abuse, neglect, loss and illness of family members, can have a long-lasting and traumatic impact if left unsupported. Moreover, academic research has shown conclusively that early childhood trauma will affect mental health long into adulthood, with significant costs to individuals, their families, society and the economy.

In particular, The Princess has highlighted the need for open and honest conversations about the subject of mental health to try and combat stigma, and also the importance of early intervention mental health support for young people, to tackle these issues at the earliest possible stage, so that children have the brightest possible futures, as they deserve.

Sports and the outdoors

The Princess is a keen sportswoman and believes not only that physical health complements mental health, but also that being outdoors, and especially playing sports, has the power to engage, educate and inspire and change lives for the better. Her Royal Highness's passion for sport, nature and the outdoors stems from her own experience and enjoyment of playing tennis and hockey and sailing from a young age.

The Princess of Wales has continued this work by showing her support for those organisations working to ensure young people have access to get outdoors to enjoy the natural world and take part in physical activity. In particular, she is Royal Patron of several sport-related institutions: SportsAid, The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, The Lawn Tennis Association, and The 1851 Trust. As a mother of three young children, she is keen to encourage their love of nature and the outdoors.

Visual arts

In March 2018 The Princess became the first Royal Patron of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The Patronage reflects Her Royal Highness's interest in the visual arts, photography, design and textiles.

Her Royal Highness is a keen photographer and an Honorary Member of the Royal Photographic Society.