Catherine, Princess of Wales

Catherine married Prince William on April 29, 2011, at Westminster Abbey in London. Following the wedding, she received the title Duchess of Cambridge. The couple has three children: Prince George Alexander Louis, born on July 22, 2013; Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, born on May 2, 2015; and Prince Louis Arthur Charles, born on April 23, 2018.

In January 2024, Catherine underwent planned abdominal surgery in London. Following the procedure, medical tests revealed the presence of cancer, and she began a course of preventative chemotherapy. She shared the diagnosis publicly in March 2024. After completing her chemotherapy treatments later that year, she announced in January 2025 that her cancer was in remission.

Born at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, Catherine Elizabeth Middleton is the eldest of three children of Michael and Carole Middleton. She grew up with a younger sister, Philippa, and a younger brother, James. From 1984 to 1986, the family lived in Amman, Jordan, where her father worked as a flight dispatcher for British Airways and Catherine attended nursery school. After returning to Berkshire, she attended St. Andrew's School in Pangbourne and later Marlborough College in Wiltshire, where she captained the field hockey team and studied chemistry, biology, and art at A-level.

Before entering university, Catherine took a gap year during which she studied at the British Institute in Florence, took part in a Raleigh International expedition in Chile, and served as a crew member on Round the World Challenge boats in the Solent. In 2001, she enrolled at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland to study art history, graduating in 2005. She subsequently worked as an accessories buyer for the clothing retailer Jigsaw Junior and assisted with marketing and design at Party Pieces, her family's party-supply business.

Catherine met Prince William in 2001 while both were first-year students studying art history at the University of St. Andrews. After living in shared student housing in 2002, their friendship developed into a romantic relationship. The courtship became public in 2004 when they were photographed together on a skiing holiday in Switzerland.

Prince William proposed to Catherine in October 2010 during a private holiday in Kenya, presenting her with the sapphire and diamond engagement ring previously worn by his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales. The engagement was officially announced at St. James's Palace in London in November 2010.

Following her marriage, Catherine took on an extensive schedule of royal duties and charitable engagements across the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. In 2017, she partnered with Prince William and Prince Harry to launch Heads Together, a nationwide campaign designed to tackle mental health stigma. In 2021, she established the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood to raise awareness of the critical importance of early childhood development on long-term health and wellbeing.

Catherine holds patronages with numerous organisations, including East Anglia's Children's Hospices, Action on Addiction, and the National Portrait Gallery, and serves as a volunteer with the Scout Association. She is also an amateur photographer whose family portraits are regularly released to mark birthdays and official royal occasions. Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022, William became heir apparent and King Charles III bestowed on Catherine the title Princess of Wales.