Kate Middleton Gave an Honest, Eight-Word Assessment About the First Time She Met King Charles

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 28 January 2024

King Charles and his daughter-in-law the Princess of Wales are said to enjoy a warm relationship; Marie Claire reported recently that Kate is even closer to the King than Prince William is. (William, of course, is Charles’ eldest son and Kate’s husband. But you knew that.)

Charles and Kate have another commonality as of this month (and one neither probably wanted): they are both currently patients at The London Clinic, where Kate underwent abdominal surgery on January 16, and Charles underwent a corrective procedure for an enlarged prostate on January 26. Both are said to be doing well and recovering.

William and Kate have been a couple for over two decades and, as such, Kate has been a part of the royal fold for a long time. After the couple got engaged in 2010, they sat down for a revealing post-engagement interview with Tom Bradby, and one of the topics covered was Kate’s reaction after meeting the then Prince of Wales during her courtship with William.

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Kate admitted she was (naturally) anxious about meeting Charles—“I was quite nervous about meeting William’s father,” she said, per The Mirror—but added “he was very, very welcoming, very friendly. It couldn’t have gone easier, really, for me.”

Of meeting William’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, Bradby asked “Meeting the grandmother, the Queen, again not your average meeting with a grandmother,” he said. “Were you nervous about that, too?”

Kate responded, “I first met her at Peter [Phillips, William’s cousin and Princess Anne’s son] and Autumn’s [Kelly] wedding and, again, it was amongst a lot of other guests, and she was very friendly.” William added “She was very welcoming. She knew it was a big day and everything was going on with Peter and Autumn. She wanted to meet Kate for a while, so it was very nice for her to come over and say hello.” (That wedding took place in 2008; William and Kate met in 2001 and began dating around 2002 or 2003.)

William also opened up about meeting Kate’s family, the Middletons, comprised of Kate’s parents, Michael and Carole, and her younger siblings, Pippa and James. The Middletons embraced William as a part of their close-knit family early on: “Mike and Carole have been really sort of loving and caring and really fun,” William said. “They have been really welcoming towards me, so I’ve felt really a part of the family.”

William and Kate’s wedding was five months after they announced their engagement on November 16, 2010. The two married on April 29, 2011, and will soon celebrate 13 years of marriage.

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.