King Charles Reportedly Asked Kate Middleton To Alter Her Spelling
king charles reportedly asked kate middleton to alter her spelling when a new royal biography said Charles and Camilla wanted her name changed to Katherine with a K after her marriage to Prince William. The claim ties the request to royal monograms and returns to a detail Prince Harry had already described in his 2023 memoir, Spare.
According to royal biographer Christopher Andersen, Charles and Camilla had a royal monogram of two interlocking C’s beneath a coronet, and another C monogram would have been overkill. Harry wrote that they said it would be too confusing to have another C and suggested making it Katherine with a K.
Prince Harry in Spare
Harry wrote, “I remembered the time [Prince Charles, Harry’s father] and Camilla wanted Kate to change the spelling of her name, because there were already two royal cyphers with a C and a crown above.” He added, “Charles and Camilla. It would be too confusing to have another. Make it Katherine with a K, they suggested.”
Harry also wrote, “I wondered now what came of that suggestion.” Andersen said Catherine was asked to change her name to Katherine, while Camilla viewed the change as a logical progression because the world knew her as Kate.
William and Kate Middleton
The request landed after Kate Middleton married Prince William at Westminster Abbey fifteen years ago, when Queen Elizabeth II gave the newlyweds the titles Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Earl and Countess of Strathearn, and Baron and Baronness of Carrickfergus. The biography says Kate was offended by the suggestion, and William was left fuming.
William called the request “insulting, not only to Kate but to her entire family,” according to the article, while Kensington Palace team members have repeatedly said Catherine, the Princess of Wales, wishes to be called Catherine. The new biography adds another disputed detail to a long-running point of royal identity: what the family called her, and what she wanted to be called.
Christopher Andersen's book
Andersen makes the claim in his upcoming book, Kate! The Courage, Grace, and Power of the Woman Who Will Be Queen. With Harry’s memoir already on the record and the palace’s naming preference already stated, the new book extends the same dispute rather than settling it, leaving the naming issue as the clearest line of friction in the story.
