Kate Middleton's Awkward Email From Before Her Time As Duchess

Becoming the Duchess of an entire nation is a stressful affair and, in the case of Kate Middleton, sometimes results in an awkward faux pas with friends. In the case of the Duchess, hers came in an email she sent out prior to her marriage.

The email in question was a request for them to stop referring to her as “Kate.” Instead, she said, they should start calling her “Catherine.” Middleton’s supposed reason for the change was that, despite Prince William referring to her as “Kate” all throughout college and the time that they knew each other, she felt “Catherine” fit in much better with the royal family, according to The Mirror.

Middleton’s email was sent around the time the future queen suspected her boyfriend would propose. The request came in a bit of a “joking” and not-so-serious tone, but apparently, the whole thing came off as a little awkward anyway.

Adam Helliker, a columnist who focuses on celebrity gossip and royal family news, reported of this instance at the time that it happened back in 2008, prior to the prince even proposing. He said in a statement for the Sunday Express: "There are intriguing signs that Kate Middleton is preparing for her future role. It looks like she’s taking it very seriously indeed too,” the writer claimed. “I hear that in the past few weeks the former accessories buyer has quietly informed friends that she would like to drop the informal ‘Kate’ and in future wishes to be known by her full name: 'Catherine'.”

The royal couple went on and got married in 2011. Middleton's official title if Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, but she is still informally referred to as Kate in the press.