Kate Middleton and Queen Elizabeth’s first official joint visit comes almost eight years after the Duchess of Cambridge joined the royal family.
While Kate and the Queen have attended multiple engagements together over the years, other members of the royal family have always been in attendance alongside them. So what is the relationship between Kate Middleton and Queen Elizabeth really like?
They first met at a royal wedding.
In her post-engagement interview with Prince William, Kate revealed that she first met the Queen during Peter Phillips’ (William’s cousin) wedding to Autumn Kelly in 2008. “Well I first met her at Peter and Autumn’s wedding and again it was in amongst a lot of other guests and she was very friendly,” the duchess said in the Q&A, per The Telegraph.
William added of their meeting, “She was very welcoming, she knew it was a big day and everything was going on with Peter and Autumn, she had wanted to meet Kate for a while, so it was very nice for her to come over and say hello, we had a little chat and got on very well.”
The Queen admired Kate’s stunning wedding dress.
In July 2011, Kate joined the Queen in Buckingham Palace for the opening of an exhibition which included her unforgettable Alexander McQueen wedding gown. The pair discussed the incredible outfit, and the rapport between the royals was evident even then:
They had several appearances together throughout 2012.
As part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee tour, Kate accompanied the monarch on a visit to Leicester. While the pair were photographed spending time with one another, the Queen’s husband, Prince Philip, was also on the trip. Considering Kate officially joined the royal family in April 2011 when she married Prince William, her trip alongside the Queen was important and solidified her new role within the royal family:
OLI SCARFF//GETTY IMAGES
Kate Middleton and Queen Elizabeth in March 2012.
In June 2012, Kate and the Queen were spotted together once again during a visit to Nottingham, also during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee tour. As usual, the royals were in very good spirits, and certainly seemed to be enjoying one another’s company:
Kate pointed out the Queen’s “thoughtfulness” and “care”.
In 2016’s ITV documentary celebrating the Queen’s 90th birthday, Kate revealed the very first Christmas gift she gave to Her Majesty (via The Telegraph): homemade chutney. The duchess revealed, “I was worried what to give the Queen as her Christmas present. I was thinking, ‘Gosh, what should I give her?’ I thought back to what would I give my own grandparents. And I thought, ‘I’ll make her something.’ Which could have gone horribly wrong. But I decided to make my granny’s recipe of chutney.”
The gift, it seems, was a hit. Kate explained, “I was slightly worried about it, but I noticed the next day that it was on the table. I think such a simple gesture went such a long way for me and I’ve noticed since she’s done that on lots of occasions and I think it just shows her thoughtfulness, really, and her care in looking after everybody.”
That’s not all. Queen Elizabeth was apparently overjoyed by the arrival of Kate and William’s daughter, Princess Charlotte. The Duchess of Cambridge told ITV (via Entertainment Tonight), “The Queen was really thrilled that it was a little girl, and I think as soon as we came back here to Kensington she was one of our first visitors here.”
The Queen speaks to Prince George at Princess Charlotte’s christening in July 2015.
More recently, during a January 2019 visit to a community garden in Islington, a young child asked Kate if the Queen ever eats pizza. Kate replied, “You know, that’s such a good question. I don’t know. I don’t know. Maybe next time I see her, shall I ask?” It seems as though Kate has a very close bond with her husband’s grandmother.
