Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge

Catherine
Duchess of Cambridge (more)
The Duchess of Cambridge in 2014
Born	(1982-01-09) 9 January 1982 (age 35) Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading, Berkshire, England
Spouse	Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (m. 2011)
Issue	Prince George of Cambridge Princess Charlotte of Cambridge
Full name Catherine Elizabeth
House	Windsor (by marriage)
Father	Michael Middleton
Mother	Carole Goldsmith
Religion	Church of England
Signature

Royal family of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms
HM The Queen HRH The Duke of Edinburgh HRH The Prince of Wales HRH The Duchess of Cornwall HRH The Duke of Cambridge HRH The Duchess of Cambridge HRH Prince George of Cambridge HRH Princess Charlotte of Cambridge HRH Prince Henry of Wales HRH The Duke of York HRH Princess Beatrice of York HRH Princess Eugenie of York HRH The Earl of Wessex HRH The Countess of Wessex HRH The Princess Royal
HRH The Duke of Gloucester HRH The Duchess of Gloucester HRH The Duke of Kent HRH The Duchess of Kent HRH Prince Michael of Kent HRH Princess Michael of Kent HRH Princess Alexandra

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (Catherine Elizabeth "Kate"; née Middleton; born 9 January 1982) is the wife of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge. Following his father Charles, Prince of Wales, William is second in line to succeed his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, as monarch of the United Kingdom and 15 other Commonwealth realms.

The Duchess grew up in Chapel Row, a village near Newbury, Berkshire, England. She studied art history in Scotland at the University of St Andrews, where she met William in 2001. Their engagement was announced on 16 November 2010 before they married on 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey. The Duke and Duchess have two children: Prince George (born 22 July 2013) and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge (born 2 May 2015), who are respectively third and fourth in line to the British throne.

Her perceived impact on British and American fashion has been called the "Kate Middleton effect" in the media, and in 2012 and 2013, she was selected as one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World" by Time magazine.

Catherine Elizabeth Middleton was born at Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading on 9 January 1982 to an upper-middle-class family. She was christened at St Andrew's Bradfield, Berkshire, on 20 June 1982. She is the eldest of three children born to Michael Middleton and his wife, Carole (née Goldsmith), a former flight dispatcher and flight attendant, respectively, who in 1987 founded Party Pieces, a mail order private company that sells party supplies and decorations with an estimated worth of £30 million. The family of her father Michael has ties to British and benefitted financially from trust funds which they had established over 100 years ago. Her Middleton relatives were reported as having played host to British royalty "as long ago as 1926". She has a younger sister, Philippa "Pippa", and a younger brother, James.