The Princess of Wales had a close relationship with Queen Elizabeth II, with the pair sharing mutual trust and respect for one another. As well as the late Queen showing support for some of Kate’s work and initiatives, including her Back to Nature garden at the Chelsea Flower Show 2019 and her National Portrait Gallery photography competition in 2020, Her Late Majesty was also an admirer of the Princess’s enviable locks, according to Prince Harry.
The Duke of Sussex recalled his wife Meghan‘s meeting with his father, then Prince Charles and stepmother, Camilla, in his memoir, Spare, published in 2023. He wrote: “Meg looked beautiful and I told her so. She was wearing a black-and-white dress, with a full skirt, patterned with flowers, and when I put my hand on her back, I could feel how delicate the material was. Her hair was down, because I suggested she wear it that way. Pa likes it when women wear their hair down. Granny too. She often commented on ‘Kate’s beautiful mane.'”
The Princess of Wales has experimented with her hair length and colour through her 14 years as a royal, including a fringe after the birth of her daughter, Princess Charlotte, in 2015, a bob in 2017, and more recently, blonde highlights after her summer break
Kate’s relationship with Queen Elizabeth II
A year into her marriage with Prince William, Kate carried out her first engagement with the late Queen in 2012, alongside Prince Philip. The trio visited Leicester as part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee tour of the UK, while William was deployed in the Falkland Islands at the time.
© Getty ImagesThe pair paid a visit to Leicester in March 2012
In 2019, the then Duchess of Cambridge stepped out for her first solo public engagement with the monarch, as the pair paid a visit to King’s College London to open Bush House – an education and learning facility on the Strand Campus.
© Samir Hussein/WireImageThe late Queen and Kate visit King’s College London in 2019
Kate also recalled her nerves at joining the royal family for Christmas for the first time and finding the perfect gift for Elizabeth II. Speaking on the ITV documentary, Our Queen at Ninety, in 2016, she said: “I can remember being at Sandringham, for the first time, at Christmas. And I was worried what to give the Queen as her Christmas present. I was thinking, ‘Gosh, what should I give her?'”
INSIDE WILLIAM AND KATE’S NEW ROYAL ERA
Over on The HELLO! Royal Club, world-renowned royal author Robert Jobson takes us behind the scenes of a very British royal revolution as he documents how Prince William and Princess Catherine are remaking monarchy right before our eyes. Click the button below to read Robert’s insightful post and to join HELLO!’s biggest royal fans in the internet’s biggest online community.
She continued: “I thought, ‘I’ll make her something.’ Which could have gone horribly wrong. But I decided to make my granny’s recipe of chutney. 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.”