Her official title is the Princess of Wales, yet she is often referred to in headlines as "Kate Middleton" or "Princess Kate." It's a practice frequently called out online, and, on the surface, it's easy to understand why. Referring to the wife of the heir to the throne as "Kate Middleton" can feel informal, even disrespectful as it uses her maiden name — believe me, I get it. The Princess herself signs her personal messages off with a "C" for Catherine, rather than a "K" for "Kate."
Much to the frustration of some, there is a reason why "Kate Middleton" continues to be used in headlines online.
This is partly driven by search behavior. "Search behavior is kind of like how people are searching and the underlying intention behind those searches," Andrew Coco, senior director of web strategy and SEO at NBCUniversal, notes. "For instance, her name, Kate Middleton, the behavior there is just like typing that into a search bar. Their intention, I would say, is also part of that behavior.
"When you're searching someone's name, do you want to know new stories about them, do you want to just see images of them, do you want to get more information about their bio, where they were born, all that. It could be hundreds of things. SEO is really the practice of trying to answer the intention behind those and then try to influence how likely you are to show up when search platforms are serving that answer back to users."
When it comes to Kate Middleton versus the Princess of Wales, Andrew observes, "It's probably search pattern and audiences' likeliness to understand that those are the same. In this specific example, a U.S. audience, maybe they're just unfamiliar with the official title and just know her as this celebrity figure. Similarly, someone like The Rock, maybe a lot of folks know him as Dwayne Johnson, but maybe a lot of folks don't. I would say, in the context of a wrestling article, maybe you're going to call him The Rock. In the context of an acting role, maybe you're going to call him Dwayne Johnson."
"I would think about it like that – what is my audience more primed to understand as what the focus of this article is, and then probably underlying in that, where is the most search volume. Are people most likely searching for her official name or her title or her actual name."
© GoogleMore interest in 'Kate Middleton'
According to Google Trends, "Kate Middleton" has consistently drawn more search interest than "Princess of Wales" and "the Princess of Wales" in the U.S. over the past five years. There was a slight spike in searches for "Princess of Wales" between February 29, 2024 and March 31, 2024 – during that time the Princess was recovering from her abdominal surgery and made her chemotherapy announcement – but the searches did not surpass "Kate Middleton."
© GoogleGoogle's data shows that "Kate Middleton" remains the more widely searched term. And as Andrew puts it, crafting a headline is "a combination of answering search intent, trying to do that by matching up how people are searching, like the keywords and queries, and then the intention behind those searches, and then some aspect of enticing a click when someone sees that headline."
'People call me Catherine'
In their 2010 engagement interview, William himself addressed his then-fiancée as Kate. But over the years, the Princess, born Catherine Elizabeth Middleton, has introduced herself as Catherine when out on engagements.
When a child asked the royal in 2021 if she was a "Prince," the royal replied: "I'm not a Prince. I'm the Duchess of Cambridge," adding: "Lots of people call me Catherine."
© Karwai Tang/WireImageOn another occasion in November 2022, when a child asked her what her name is, the royal responded, "My name is Catherine." She also introduced herself as such when she read a CBeebies Bedtime Story in 2022.
© Aron Chown - WPA Pool/Getty ImagesHer official title
Upon her marriage to Prince William in 2011, Catherine became "Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge."
Following Queen Elizabeth's death in 2022, King Charles bestowed the titles of Prince and Princess of Wales on his firstborn, now first in line to the throne, and his "beloved" daughter-in-law. "I am proud to create him Prince of Wales, Tywysog Cymru, the country whose title I have been so greatly privileged to bear during so much of my life and duty," Charles said the day after he ascended the throne.
“With Catherine beside him, our new Prince and Princess of Wales will, I know, continue to inspire and lead our national conversations, helping to bring the marginal to the centre ground where vital help can be given," the King continued.
Royal reservations
The title, previously held by William's late mother Princess Diana, is one the Princess of Wales was hesitant about taking on, Russell Myers wrote in his 2026 book William & Catherine: The Intimate Inside Story.
"The last Princess of Wales had been William's mother, Diana, and courtiers said that while Catherine had a full appreciation of the history associated with the role, she was determined to find her own path," Russell penned. "But Catherine had also privately expressed to William and to Charles her reservations about taking over the title, conscious of the British public's exceptional feeling for, and connection to, Princess Diana even 25 years after her death."
A senior aide to the Waleses told the author: "This tells you how considered she is."
"She is benevolent with her intentions, but also wishes to carve out her own role for both herself and her family, which in many ways looks very different to how generations of royals have acted in the past," per Russell's book.
"She is very aware the pace that she wants to progress and the way in which she sees her future role within the institution, and I think when she was convinced to take the title on, and there was a bit of convincing, she felt that while there would be inevitable comparisons with Diana, she could manage it in her own way while having full respect for the way Diana carved out a very different role for herself within the royal family."
That idea of carving out her own role was also reflected in her and William's 2010 engagement interview. During the sit down, interviewer Tom Bradby noted that Catherine was marrying into "the most famous royal family in the world" and that William's mother was the "most famous figure of our age." Asked whether that was "intimidating" and if she thought "about that a lot," Catherine replied: "I would love to have met her and obviously she's an inspirational woman to look up to, obviously, to this day and, you know, going forward and things. It's a wonderful family. The members who I've met have achieved a lot and, you know, very inspirational so... Yeah, I do."
William then added: "There's no pressure though. There's no pressure because like Kate said, you know, it's about carving your own future... No one's trying to fill my mother's shoes and what she did is fantastic. It's about making your own future and your own destiny and Kate will do a very good job of that."
And, indeed, she has.
