Kate Middleton Has Become “Very Close” to This Royal, Especially Through Recent Family Dramas
Kate Middleton Has Become “Very Close” to This Royal, Especially Through Recent Family Dramas
Rachel BurchfieldSun, August 30, 2026 at 4:57 PM UTC
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Kate Middleton in Reggio Emilia, Italy on May 14, 2026.Credit: GettyThe Gist -
Despite sometimes being pitted against one another in the media, Queen Camilla and Kate Middleton are actually “very close.”
Both women have been described as the power behind the throne and are massive support systems to their respective husbands King Charles and Prince William.
The two have visibly shared evidence of their “warm” relationship, like at the Cenotaph for Remembrance Sunday last November.
The public—specifically the media—have wanted to make Queen Camilla and Kate Middleton into rivals, but the two women have actually become “very close,” according to a royal biographer.
Queen Camilla and Kate Middleton on February 3, 2022.Credit: Getty
Speaking to The Daily Mail, Andrew Lownie shared that the queen and the Princess of Wales have developed a “warm” relationship over the years. After all, who better to relate to the experience of being married to a king (or future king) better than Camilla and Kate?
The two have grown particularly close recently, Lownie said, and The Daily Mail reported, “Camilla has not just grown closer with Kate in recent years, but also appears to share a warm relationship with the princess’s family—including her mother Carole Middleton.”
Queen Camilla and Kate Middleton at Trooping the Colour on June 2, 2022.Credit: Getty
At Remembrance Sunday in November 2025, Camilla and Kate had “an exchange of what looked like [a] warm chat between the present and future queens here, with Camilla’s rather playful smile and side-eye appearing to make Kate beam back down at her,” body language expert Judi James told the publication.
Queen Camilla and Kate Middleton on Remembrance Sunday on November 9, 2025.Credit: Getty
The return of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to the U.K. last week is no doubt impacting all members of the royal family—even though the Duke and Duchess of Sussex won’t return to the working royal roles they left when they moved to the United States six years ago in 2020. The decision is affecting King Charles and Prince William, and as such affects Camilla and Kate, as well.
“The king and the Prince of Wales have long been aware of the Sussexes’ plan to return to Britain, but it has suited their purposes to distance themselves whilst public opinion is tested,” Lownie said. “The queen, who is very close to Kate, has been stiffening the resolve of the king to establish clear boundaries for [Harry and Meghan].”
Queen Camilla, King Charles, Prince William, and Princess Kate on December 5, 2023.Credit: Getty
Harry, Meghan, and their children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet arrived in Britain on August 26, with plans to stay for an extended period of time. They are living in a private, non-royal residence outside of London, and Archie and Lilibet are set to begin school there this week.
In addition to being in lockstep on Harry and Meghan’s move back to the U.K., Camilla and Kate were also similarly united in support of Charles’s decision to strip his younger brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor of all royal titles and privileges in October 2025, rendering him a commoner. In fact, both Camilla and Kate have been described as being someone who is the power behind the throne.
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A source told People that they “sensed a female touch” in the king’s statement on the matter, speculating that the queen and the Princess of Wales were a part of the decision.
Queen Camilla and Kate Middleton on June 17, 2023.Credit: Getty
“I would think the queen had a hand in that,” the insider said of Camilla. “There would have been a push from Camilla and Catherine, and there was pressure from William, who would not want to inherit the headache.”
“It was a family decision,” the source added.
Royal biographer Katie Nicholl told iNews, “It’s very likely that Kate and Camilla wielded a quiet but incredibly powerful influence over both the king and the Prince of Wales when it came to their response [to Andrew]. Some describe them as the real power behind the throne.”
Queen Camilla and Kate Middleton greeting one another on December 3, 2025.Credit: Getty
Royal historian Catherine Mayer told Hello!’s “A Right Royal Podcast” that the Princess of Wales “has done such a clever job of finding a way to adopt to the institution. That does not mean that I think she has it easy.”
“She’s quite enigmatic,” Mayer said, adding that William and Kate “are carving out a very private life in the public eye, which is an enormously difficult thing to do.” The future queen is “a player of the long game,” the historian said, noting, “She has, if you look at her fashion evolution, definitely figured out how to present herself. She’s gone almost entirely into the silver-screen age, which says ‘classic and elegant.’ She never tries to go high fashion in a way that would be challenging.”
Camilla, Mayer said, is “now seen as a stalwart of the monarchy as opposed to the biggest threat that it faced. It’s an incredible change. Camilla just comes in and takes to [royal life] like a duck to water.”
“I do think part of the reason that she and Charles have such a good relationship is the similarity in their backgrounds,” she continued. “They have a worldview that is, in many ways, closely aligned.”
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