Kate Middleton opted for her full name Catherine as a preferred monicker long before joining the royal family or becoming the beloved Princess of Wales. While the name “Kate Middleton” has stuck in the hearts of royal fanatics and even those within her close circle, the princess reportedly attempted to influence her name transition starting with her pals. Notably, Kate became known to the public during her 8-year relationship with Prince William. Hence, by the time he proposed in 2010, she already went by “Kate Middleton” in the media.
Additionally, friends also addressed her with this version of her name. According to Royal biographer Robert Jobson, the Princess of Wales tried to have friends address her by her full name, Catherine, by sending out an email correspondence to them. In his book, Catherine, the Princess of Wales, Robert revealed that this email asking to be addressed by her full name only fueled speculations of Kate Middleton’s engagement to Prince William in the near future, per People.
Sunday Express columnist Adam Helliker leaked the content of this email in a 2008 article, which Robert Jobson cited in his new book, out August 6. Rehashing Adam’s version of Kate’s letter, the royal author wrote,
“I hear that in the past few weeks, the former accessories buyer has quietly informed friends that she would like to drop the informal ‘Kate’ and in the future wishes to be known by her full name: Catherine.”
At the time, many deemed the letter as “part of a bigger preparation for her formal public role” as wife to the future British monarch. However, Jobson explained in Catherine, the Princess of Wales, that Kate Middleton’s motives were unclear, as there was also the possibility that she genuinely desired “to go by her full name.”
The 42-year-old’s desire to go by Catherine may not have worked out regardless. Prince Harry, Kate Middleton’s brother-in-law touched on the full name saga in his 2023 memoir, Spare, detailing how the British monarch kicked against it. In the book, Harry claims King Charles encouraged her to change the spelling of her first name to “Katherine” from her birth-given “Catherine.” The reasoning behind this was that the royal family already had “two royal cyphers with the letter ‘C.’“
Kate’s father-in-law, and then Prince of Wales believed that was a feasible way of preventing a clash with the initials of King Charles and Queen Camilla. While the suggestion never came to fruition, the name issue appeared to work itself out as the monicker, Kate Middleton stuck over “Catherine Middleton,” in the media, and in the hearts of billions across the world. Yet, her official title remains Catherine, the Princess of Wales. Certainly a win-win situation.
