Prince William’s wife Princess Kate is the daughter of Carole and Michael Middleton, who reside in the village of Bucklebury in Berkshire, and she has two siblings, Pippa and James.
It’s common for families to have nicknames for each other, and now in an unearthed interview, HELLO! has learned the endearing names that grandmother Carole uses for her two daughters.
Speaking to The Telegraph in 2018 in an interview about her former family business Party Pieces, Carole, 68, opened up about the planning of Kate and Pippa’s weddings.
She said: "We talked about music… everything. I was involved lots with both Pip’s and Catherine’s weddings.”
How sweet that she calls Pippa ‘Pip’ and uses the formal version of Kate’s name, ‘Catherine’. We wonder if Carole has another nickname for Kate which she uses in private at home.
Carole also revealed some other fascinating facts during the interview, in particular how she actually wanted a bigger family than she has. “I’d have had five or six if I could,” she divulged.
The mother-of-three went on to explain that her role model was her husband’s mother who she tried to “emulate”. Carole is a very hands-on grandmother, and according to the article, believes it’s good for children to join in with chores in the kitchen like chopping and stirring from a young age.
In a previous interview with Good Housekeeping, Carole explained how she likes to get stuck in with her grandchildren and their activities.
“I want to run down the hills, climb the trees and go through the tunnel at the playground,” she revealed. “As long as I am able to, that’s what I’ll be doing. I cook with them, I muck around dancing, and we go on bike rides.”
In the interview, Carole also spoke about her now former company, Party Pieces, and her strong work ethic, admitting: "I'm not someone to sit on the sofa for a long time. I have a lot of energy and enjoy my work. I grew up watching my parents, who both worked extremely hard."
Carole and Michael live in a £4.7 million home in Bucklebury, which is less than an hour's drive from the Cambridges' chosen property of Adelaide Cottage on the royal Windsor estate.
Bucklebury Manor is a seven-bedroom, grade II-listed Georgian property with a drawing room, a library, and 18 acres of land – and is where Kate's sister Pippa and her husband James Matthews chose to host their wedding reception in May 2017.