The news section for the British Royal Family of the British newspaper Daily Telegraph says in its header “Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Diamond Jubilee in 2012 but continues to carry out an exacting range of duties with Prince Philip. They are ably supported by Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, and increasingly by Princes William and Harry – the sons of Charles and the late Diana, Princess of Wales – and William’s wife, still affectionately known as Kate Middleton.” [thanks Mandy of Mandy’s Royalty for noticing].
Nothing affectionately about it, rather plain lazyness to my opinion, or probably media thought nobody would know anymore about whom they were writing when using her proper title, after having written about Kate Middleton for years. She was of course born Catherine Elizabeth Middleton, better known at the time as Kate. But no way she kept her maiden name after her marriage. Calling her Kate Middleton is to me simply not accepting her marriage, nor accepting that she is allowed to use a title now, which is much higher than her birth name, which was of course not at all a title. But whatever royalty experts write, media keep on calling her Kate Middleton, which is rather annoying to read.
I wonder whether the British Royal Court was helpful at all when announcing that Catherine wouldn’t mind being called by her first name, or as Princess or Duchess after her marriage. It simply is as it is written on the website of the British Royal Family: “On the occasion of his marriage, The Queen conferred a Dukedom on Prince William of Wales. The Duke received the titles of Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn and Baron Carrickfergus. As a result Miss Catherine Middleton became Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge, Countess of Strathearn and Lady Carrickfergus.” (notice the lack of her first name in that row of titles). No matter what the audience calls her, she is neither Duchess Kate, nor Princess Kate, and surely not Kate Middleton anymore. As both her husband Prince William, The Duke of Cambridge, and the Royal Palace call her Catherine nowadays, even Kate might not be correct anymore, at least not when you officially write about her.
Actually if her husband hadn’t been given a Ducal title she would have been called Princess William of Wales, as in Great Britain it is still quite normal to name wives by their husband’s name. Even when I think that is totally old-fashioned nowadays, at least in most other parts of the world. But she nowadays is simply The Duchess of Cambridge, because it is her husband’s title, but it isn’t Catherine’s personal title. As wife she is simply allowed to use his titles … Her husband used to be His Royal Highness Prince William of Wales and because he kept his princely title upon his marriage he became His Royal Highness Prince William, The Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn, Baron Carrickfergus. But as a palace spokesperson explained on the day of the marriage: “She [Catherine] is not a princess in her own right. That title has not been conferred on her. Her title is that of duchess. So she is not Princess Catherine. And to call her Princess William of Wales is misleading.”
I feel this a is a storm in a tea cup we all love Kate and the whole article is just snobbish I’m a staunch monarchist and love all royal families world wide those names are still affectionate and here in Australia we love William and Kate
That is the first time someone has called me snobbish 🙂 I am from a very simple background myself, and also a monarchist. But women often still do take their husband’s name after marriage, so did Kate. And as she became a member of the British royal family, her future names were even announced in April 2011. So I don’t see any reason for the press still to mention her as Kate Middleton all the time. That does irritate me much more than calling her Duchess or Princess Kate to be honest.