Did Kate Middleton ever meet Princess Diana?

15 December 2023, 11:34

By Alice Dear

As The Crown season six features a scene where Kate Middleton and her mum Carole Middleton meet Princess Diana and Prince William, we settle whether they actually did meet.

Loading audio...

The Crown's latest series introduces Meg Bellamy as Kate Middleton as the Netflix drama explores her early relationship with Prince William.

In the episode where the Princess of Wales makes her debut, Kate and her mum - Carole Middleton – can be seen shopping for Christmas when they see Princess Diana and Prince William selling Big Issues.

The scene depicts the first time future Queen Kate meets her future husband, with an immediate connection forming between the two.

Listen to Heart Xmas on Global Player, the official Heart app

But while it is a sweet moment and poignant for where Kate finds herself in later years, did this actually happen and did she ever meet Princess Diana?

Kate Middleton never got to meet Princess Diana, but has spoken about her impact since marrying into the Royal Family. Picture: Getty

Did Princess Diana ever meet Kate Middleton?

No, Kate Middleton and Princess Diana never met.

The scene in The Crown which depicts a young Kate meeting the Princess of Wales and Prince William was created for the show, which is of course a drama and not fact.

The Princess of Wales has confirmed this to the public in the past, previously saying during a royal visit that: "I never, sadly, got to meet her," before adding that as a grandmother "she’d be brilliant" and that they "miss her every day."

Prince William has also spoken about his sadness that Diana never got to meet his wife, saying in an interview following the wedding: "It’s the one time since she’s died, where I’ve … thought to myself it would be fantastic if she was here, and just how sad really for her, more than anything, not being able to see it."

He added: "I think, hopefully, she’d be very proud. I’m just very sad that she’s never going to get a chance to meet Kate."

Kate Middleton first spoke of Princess Diana in her engagement interview with Prince William. At the time, she said: "Obviously I would have loved to have met her and she's obviously an inspirational woman to look up to."

The Crown depicts Kate Middleton and her mother Carole Middleton meeting Princess Diana and Prince William outside a shopping centre. Picture: Netflix

When did Prince William and Kate Middleton meet?

While The Crown depicts Kate and William's first meeting as being outside a shopping centre while he was selling Big Issues, the couple are believed to have met for the first time at St Andrews University.

Royal author Tina Brown does write in her book The Palace Papers, however, that Kate did see Prince William from afar one day in her youth.

"Kate did get a glimpse of the nine-year-old Prince when he came from Ludgrove for a hockey match against St. Andrew’s School, and she attended a tea afterward," she wrote: "The breathless press later tried to reproduce a Diana-like narrative of the ten-year-old Kate pining for her prince forever after, but Kate brushed that off at the engagement interview.

"Her heart had yearned for the Levi’s guy on a poster on her dorm wall, she insisted briskly, not William."

Kate Middleton and Prince William met for the first time at St Andrews Univeristy. Picture: Getty

In the drama, Kate can also be seen putting pictures of William up on her wall as a young girl, however, she later disputed this in an interview following their engagement.

When the interviewer asked: "There's a story that goes around that you had a picture of him on your wall," Prince William joked: "There wasn't just one, there was about 20."

The Princess of Wales put an end to the rumour, however, saying: "He wishes! No. No, I had the Levi's guy on my wall, not a picture of William. Sorry!"