Kate Middleton hasn’t had a great year. Her mysterious disappearance generated a huge amount of speculation as to her whereabouts, much of it truly bizarre in nature. Then, after weeks of vague statements from the Palace that all was well and that she was merely resting, the bombshell dropped.
Kate revealed she had cancer and public sympathy immediately shifted behind her. Since that announcement things have been quiet once again. But, though Kate may be unwell, that doesn’t mean we’re going to skip her in our ongoing ‘Worst Royal’ series, where we go through the biggest controversies in each member of the British royal family’s life.
So, let’s dive into the very worst things Catherine “Kate” Middleton has done.
8. Didn’t work very hard at her boring day job
Once upon a time, Kate wasn’t a glamorous princess living in the lap of luxury, but actually had to turn up to work on time. In the early years of dating William, Kate had left university and begun a series of glamorous holidays where she didn’t do much of note other than enjoy herself.
Realizing that William saw her as wife material, the Queen told her to get a proper job. As written in Katie Nicholls The Making of a Royal Romance: “Privately she had grave concerns and believed that Kate needed to have a job and an identity in her own right before an engagement was announced.”
Kate was soon working as an “assistant accessories buyer” for fashion firm Jigsaw, whose owners were her parents’ friends. She began the position working four days a week but soon cut that down to three days. What she actually did while in the office is unclear, though we’re going to presume not much.
Wrongdoing rating: 2/10
7. Helped pick out Nazi costume for Harry
Harry ultimately bears the responsibility for putting on a Nazi uniform for a “Natives and Colonials”, but Kate didn’t come out of this situation looking great either, though we didn’t leanr the truth until much later.
As Harry revealed in Spare, the reason he chose the costume was to make Kate laugh. And it did:
“I phoned Willy and Kate, asked what they thought. Nazi uniform, they said. I rented it, plus a silly mustache, and went back to the house. I tried it all on. They both howled.”
Kate must have known going out in public wearing a Nazi uniform was going to catastrophically backfire on Harry but said nothing. There’s two options here: either she and William saw this as something of a prank to let him humiliate himself, or she genuinely didn’t realize this would be horribly offensive. Neither makes her look great. But, again, nobody forced Harry into that costume.
Wrongdoing rating 4/10
6. Ordered killer flowers for her wedding
Sure, Kate Middleton wanted lovely flowers at the wedding at which she’d not only become a wife but a princess, but did she consider that they might be… deadly?! Yup, Kate Middleton chosen Lily of the Valley for her bouquet, a beautiful flower, but one that’s highly poisonous.
As per Wikipedia, the plant is toxic and particularly dangerous, especially to children. As such, if she’d tossed her bouquet in a child’s face, she very well could have killed them. But, of course, this didn’t happen and all guests somehow walked away from the killer bouquet alive.
Plus Diana, Camilla, and Meghan all used the flower themselves at their weddings, so we’re going to find it hard to fault Kate.
Wrongdoing rating 1/10
5. Drew too much attention away from Charles
Get your tiny violins out folks, because poor old King Charles is feeling ignored. Yup, as silly as it sounds Kate has repeatedly been at the center of a royal controversies for simply being too damn fabulous.
For example, last year Kate arrived at the Chelsea Flower Show a few hours before the King and drew all the attention he feels is rightly his. As Royal expert Richard Eden said:
“Now that [Charles and Camilla] are King and Queen, it is slightly different. They want lots of attention for their causes and the things that they feel strongly about so it could be a bit unsettling if they don’t get that attention.”
That’s backed up by Harry in Spare, who said Charles is jealous of Kate’s positive coverage in the media: “Pa and Camilla didn’t want Willy and Kate getting loads of publicity”. While maybe there’s some argument for not upstaging the King, I’ve got say you’re not much of a monarch if you can’t draw attention to yourself.
Wrongdoing rating: 0/10
4. Wore a dark green dress
Kate is known as something of a style icon, but landed herself in a controversy in 2018 when she attended the BAFTA Awards in a green dress. So, why was green such a bad color to pick?
Well, 2018 was the year of #MeToo and every other celebrity in attendance was wearing black to show their support of the cause. As a Royal Kate is strongly discouraged from making political statements so she’s stuck between a rock and a hard place here, but not wearing a black dress kicked up a stink.
Observers said: “Disappointed in Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge not wearing black to the BAFTAs. It’s not a political thing. It’s a woman thing!” and “If her mother-in-law, the Duchess of Cornwall, can stand against sexual harassment openly and make a topic of it, then Kate can wear a black dress easily without raising any questions.”
Wrongdoing rating: 1/10
3. Killed a fashion brand
Practically every fashion brand would kill to have Kate Middleton wear their clothes in public. But exposure is a double-edged sword. When William and Kate announced their engagement she wore a blue Issa dress that drew a lot of attention. Too much attention as it turned out.
The dress immediately sold out around the world and demands flooded in to Issa to make more. Owner Daniella Helayel didn’t have the money to finance production to meet demand: “The bank refused to give me credit, and the factory was screaming for me to pay its bills.” The pressure got to her: “I left because I couldn’t take any more. I felt so stressed that my hair went white and started falling out. I was broken by the end of it.”
Now this isn’t technically Kate’s fault, but perhaps she could have given Issa a heads up that she was going to put their dress before the world’s media.
Wrongdoing rating: 1/10
2. Was part of a disastrous Caribbean tour
William and Kate are generally received well wherever they go, which made their calamitous 2022 tour of the Caribbean so wince-inducing. The pair flew straight into the lingering fury over the British government’s ‘Windrush Scandal’ and mass calls for full independence from the United Kingdom and reparation payment for Britain’s role in the slave trade.
Kate didn’t exactly help matters. There were some awkward picture of her shaking hands with Jamaican children through a fence, which reeked of colonialism. She was even directly accused of racism after an awkward moment with Jamaica’s Minister of Culture when she appeared to recoil from her.
Maybe Kate couldn’t win here no matter what she did, but she certainly didn’t do much to help the situation.
Wrongdoing rating: 3/10
1. Bad at Photoshop
And so we come to the latest controversy. Speculation had risen to fever pitch about Kate’s health and whereabouts, so a picture of her surrounded by her children on Mother’s Day was always going to attract scrutiny.
But the photo had barely been posted when observers called foul, pointing to numerous inconsistencies that indicated it’d been digitally manipulated. International press agencies agreed, putting out a “Kill notice” on using the image. Kate was forced to apologize:
Now that we know she’s suffering from cancer her wanting to look her best in a photo is forgivable, but given the wild theories she should have known that releasing a manipulated image would be like pouring gasoline on a bonfire.
Wrongdoing rating: 3/10
The verdict
Okaycards on the table folks, it was very hard to find many genuine controversies Kate was involved in. It appears that she’s practically a saint, especially when compared to some of the actual weirdos and perverts in the family she’s married into. As such, Kate is for now, the least-worst Royal with a score of a mere 15/80.
This puts her five points ahead of Meghan, who scored 20/10. Harry landed on 30/80, William on 33/80, and Charles is currently way out in front as the worst Royal on 45/80. Up next, Queen Camilla!
