Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (born Catherine Elizabeth Middleton on 9 January 1982; popularly known as "Kate") is the wife of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge. William is second in line to the thrones of the sixteen Commonwealth realms, and if he becomes king, she would become queen consort. Catherine grew up in Chapel Row at Bucklebury, a village near Newbury, Berkshire, England. She studied in Scotland at the University of St Andrews, where she met William in 2001. They started a romantic relationship that continued until a break-up lasting for several months in 2007. However, they continued to be friends and rekindled their relationship later that year. Prior to the wedding, Catherine attended many high-profile royal events. Once their relationship became public, Catherine received widespread media attention and there was much speculation that she and William would eventually marry. Their engagement was announced on 16 November 2010, and they married on 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey.
Early life and family
Main article: Middleton family. Catherine was born at Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading on 9 January 1982 and christened at St Andrew's Bradfield, Berkshire on 20 June 1982.:32 She is the eldest of three children born to Carole Elizabeth Middleton (née Goldsmith), a former flight attendant and now part-owner of Party Pieces, a private company with an estimated worth of £30 million,and Michael Francis Middleton, who also worked as a flight attendant prior to becoming a flight dispatcher for British Airways, currently also an owner of Party Pieces. Her parents married on 21 June 1980, at the Parish Church of Dorney, Buckinghamshire, and in 1987, founded Party Pieces, a mail order company that sells party supplies and decorations. Catherine has a sister, Philippa Charlotte, known as "Pippa" (born 1983), and a brother, James Middleton (born 1987). The family has complained about press harassment of Pippa and their mother since Catherine's engagement.
Catherine's paternal family came from Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, and her great-grandmother Olivia was a member of the Lupton family, who were active for generations in Leeds in commercial and municipal work. Her ancestors include The Rev. Thomas Davis, a Church of England hymn-writer. Carole Middleton's maternal family, the Harrisons, were working class labourers and miners from Sunderland and County Durham. Catherine's parents were based in Amman, Jordan, working for British Airways from May 1984, to September 1986, where Catherine went to an English language nursery school, before returning to their home in Berkshire. After her return from Amman, Catherine was educated at St Andrew's School near the village of Pangbourne in Berkshire, then briefly atDowne House. She continued her studies at Marlborough College, a co-educational independent boarding school in Wiltshire, followed by the University of St Andrews in Fife, Scotland where she met William. She graduated with an MA (2:1 Hons) in the History of Art.
Career
In November 2006, Catherine accepted a position as an accessory buyer with the clothing chain Jigsaw. In 2008, it was reported that she had quit her job and was planning to become a professional photographer, intending to take private classes with photographer Mario Testino, who had taken several well-known photographs of Diana, Princess of Wales and her sons. Testino later denied that Catherine was going to be working for him.
Public image and style
Catherine is admired for her fashion sense and has been placed on numerous "best dressed" lists. She was selected by The Daily Telegraph as the "Most Promising Newcomer" in its 2006 list of style winners and losers. Tatler placed her at number 8 on its yearly listing of the top ten style icons in 2007. She was featured in People magazine's 2007 and 2010 best-dressed lists. Catherine was named as one of Richard Blackwell's ten "Fabulous Fashion Independents" of 2007. In June 2008, Style.com selected Catherine as its monthly beauty icon. In July 2008, Catherine was included in Vanity Fair's international best-dressed list. In February 2011, Catherine was named the Top Fashion Buzzword of the 2011 season by the Global Language Monitor.
Engagement and wedding
Main article: Wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine Middleton. Prince William and Catherine Middleton became engaged in October 2010 in Kenya, East Africa, during a 10-day trip to the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy to celebrate William passing his RAF helicopter search and rescue course. Clarence House announced the engagement on 16 November 2010. The couple married in Westminster Abbey on 29 April 2011, (St. Catherine's Day) with the day declared a bank holiday in the United Kingdom. The wedding was watched by a global television audience of over two billion people.
Royal Duties - Public appearances
Catherine was formally introduced to public life on 24 February 2011, two months before the wedding, when she and William attended a lifeboat naming ceremony in Trearddur, Anglesey in North Wales. On 16 February 2011, Clarence House announced that the Duke and Duchess's first royal tour of Canada would take place in July 2011. In May 2011, shortly after the wedding, and while Prince Charles was in official visit to the United States, Clarence House announced that the Duke and Duchess would visit California after their Canadian tour. It will be the Duchess of Cambridge's first visit to the United States.
Tittles, Styles and Arms
- 9 January 1982 – 29 April 2011: Miss Catherine Elizabeth Middleton
- 29 April 2011 – present: Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge
Catherine's full title and style is: Her Royal Highness Princess William Arthur Philip Louis, Duchess of Cambridge, Countess of Strathearn, Baroness Carrickfergus. Unlike the majority of royal brides, and in contrast to most previous consorts-in-waiting for over 350 years, Catherine does not come from a royal or aristocratic background. On the morning of their wedding day on 29 April 2011, at 8:00 am, officials at Buckingham Palace announced that in accordance with royal tradition and on recognition of the day by the Queen, Prince William was created Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn and Baron Carrickfergus.
AIn a study of the ancestry of Catherine, William Addams Reitwiesner uncovered that she shares ancestors with her husband Prince William; the closest relationship is via William's mother through a common descent from Sir Thomas Fairfax and his wife Agnes Gascoine, making the couple fifteenth cousins. She is also related more distantly to William through her father's side through common descent from Sir William Gascoine and his wife, née Lady Margaret Percy. The couple are also possibly twelfth cousins once removed, with circumstantial evidence suggesting that they are both descended from Sir Thomas Leighton and Elizabeth Knollys. Catherine’s descent from Sir Thomas Fairfax and her unproven descent from Sir Thomas Leighton were both through her great-grandmother Olive Lupton, daughter of a Leeds cloth merchant Francis Lupton and his wife Harriet (née Davis) – Fairfax being an ancestor of Lupton and Leighton an ancestor of Davis.
Popular Culture
Following international attention regarding the wedding, Lifetime aired a TV movie entitled William and Kate on 18 April 2011, in the US. The film premiered in the UK on 24 April 2011. Catherine was played by Camilla Luddington and William by Nico Evers-Swindell. TV programmes were also shown in the UK prior to the wedding which provided deeper insights into the couple's relationship and backgrounds, including When Kate Met William and Channel 4's Meet the Middletons.
Footnotes
^ As a titled royal, Catherine holds no surname, but, when one is used, it is Mountbatten-Windsor.
Source: wikipedia
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