The Duchess of Cambridge is extremely close to her mother, Carole Middleton, who is a doting grandmother to the royal's three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
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While Carole, 66, had a modest start to life in London's Southall, where she educated in the local state schools before becoming a secretary, her daughter Kate and is married to the future king of England – yet the mother and daughter are strikingly alike.
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Find out about Kate and Carole shared passions below…
Kate is ambitious like Carole
The Duchess of Cambridge is clearly a dedicated and hardworking woman, combining bringing up three children with her many regal duties – and it appears she inherited this diligence from her mother, who founded her own party decorations business Party Pieces.
Royal author Ingrid Seward told The Mirror that Carole is the reason Kate strives for the best. She told the paper: "Kate is a product of her mother, she was brought up to do everything to perfection."
Pointing out Kate's talents in sailing, skiing and playing the piano, Ingrid added: "All these skills came because her ambitious mother encouraged her to learn them. There's nothing she can't turn her hand to."
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Duchess Kate with sister Pippa and mum Carole
They are both 'hands on' mothers
Although Duchess Kate does have a nanny to help with her three children, she's famously hands-on with her children, enjoying all manner of outdoor pursuits with them.
Back in February 2020, the Duchess appeared on the Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast and when host Giovanna Fletcher prompted the Duchess to complete the sentence, "I'm happy when…," Kate replied: "I'm with my family outside in the countryside and we're all filthy dirty."
Carole is just the same and loves playing with her grandchildren. In a past interview in Good Housekeeping, she spoke about their precious family time together.
Carole shared: "I want to run down the hills, climb the trees and go through the tunnel at the playground. As long as I am able to, that's what I'll be doing. I cook with them, I muck around dancing, we go on bike rides."
Carole with grandson Prince George
The duo share a love of fashion
Both Kate and her mother always look fabulous when attending public events – and have been known to share clothes.
To give her first solo speech as a royal in March 2012, Kate chose a blue Reiss dress – the same outfit Carole wore for Royal Ascot in 2010. And a year later, Carole borrowed her daughter's Jane Corbett fascinator for Royal Ascot.
Kate and Carole share the same dress
Sometimes they even buy similar outfits. Carole's Rumour London dress at Wimbledon in 2017 was so similar to Kate's Alexander McQueen number from her royal visit to Canada the year prior.
Charity is important to both
The Duchess has a number of charities close to her heart in the areas of helping young children, mental health, sport, addiction, and art.
Most recently, Kate hosted the carol concert, Together At Christmas, at Westminster Abbey, honouring charities and individuals that served the communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Like her daughter, Carole also likes to do her bit for charity. According to PEOPLE, the caring royal grandmother secretly delivered homemade soup to a neighbour that had been battling coronavirus during lockdown. In keeping with the guidelines, Carole left the soup on her neighbour's doorstep, to avoid contact.
Back in April, it was also revealed that the mother-of-three delivered goody bags from her company Party Pieces to her local hospital's children's ward. Sharing an image on her company's Instagram page of her unloading her car, Carole said: "Happy to help @nhsheroes with some toys for the children's ward."
Carole and Michael Middleton
Carole and Kate love to cook
Cooking for their families is a shared passion for this royal mum and daughter.
The Duchess has previously spoken of her love of cooking with her children, baking cakes and making pizza or pasta together. A roast remains a clear family favourite for the Cambridges.
While Carole told Good Housekeeping that her favourite room is: "My kitchen. It's a kitchen/dining/sitting room and it's the heart of the house."
"I love a kitchen supper," she said. "Where I have a small number of guests. I'll cook something delicious and make it look lovely, then we'll finish with a kitchen disco."
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