Details About Kate Middleton's Exclusive Bachelorette Party
Royal watchers around the world buzzed on November 16, 2010 when it was revealed that William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales were engaged. In their iconic ITV News interview about the joyous news, Prince William explained that the big moment happened during a trip to Kenya. "I just decided it was the right time, really," he said, adding, "We had been talking about marriage for a while so it wasn't a massively big surprise." However, Kate Middleton admittedly didn't anticipate a proposal on that trip.
Although the royal couple's engagement has been discussed at length, Kate's bachelorette party remains something of a mystery. Fortunately, royal biographers have the scoop including that Kate's final weeks before becoming a royal included musical fun with friends. In "Catherine, the Princess of Wales," Robert Jobson outlined certain details from her super-small bachelorette (also known as a hen party in the U.K.). Kate's sister, Pippa Middleton, was the party planner and Jobson named three friends who were in attendance: Olivia Beasdale, Alicia Fox-Pitt, and Rose Astor.
At one point during the celebrations, Kate had a pop star moment during karaoke and emulated Cheryl Cole with a performance of her hit song "Fight For This Love." William later jokingly asked the singer, "Did you know you've got a bit of competition?" when they met in 2012 at the Diamond Jubilee concert honoring Queen Elizabeth II.
Kate's karaoke performance reportedly included Cole's dance to correspond with the song
In her own memoir, "Cheryl: My Story," Cheryl Cole (also professionally known as just Cheryl) recounted meeting William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales and learning of the bachelorette party festivities. The pop star recalled, "William looked at Kate and they both started laughing before Kate confessed that she dressed up as me on her hen night, in a body suit and split trousers and sang 'Fight For This Love.' She even learnt the dance routine and was step-perfect by all accounts, as her sister Pippa [Middleton] and brother James [Middleton] also came over and told me all about it."
However, Cole sang a different song at the Diamond Jubilee, where she and Take That star Gary Barlow covered Lady A's "Need You Now." In another life, perhaps Cole and the princess could have done a duet. Notably, Tina Brown's "The Palace Papers" biography also described Kate's hen party performance, detailing how "Kate grabbed the mic and with unusual spontaneity sang her heart out." It seems the event followed royal rules for bachelorette parties — unlike Sarah Ferguson's hen, which involved her and the late Princess Diana almost getting arrested while wearing fake police uniforms.
A spokesperson for St. James's Palace refused to comment on the bachelorette
An insider who reportedly knew Catherine, Princess of Wales well spoke to The Telegraph in March 2011 about Kate Middleton's bachelorette party. They said, "She has already had her hen night, but it was certainly very low-key. [...] It was done privately. Not all of Kate's friends were there, and she will be catching up with other friends over the coming weeks." Other rumored guests that they speculated could have attended were Astrid Harbord and Alice Hadden-Paton.
The beloved royal is not a big drinker, which two former classmates (one from Marlborough College and another from St. Andrews University) informed the outlet. Still, even without alcohol, Kate's karaoke likely kept the party lively! However, St. James's Palace would not discuss details of the hen night, with a spokesperson confirming simply, "This is not something we would comment on. It is a private matter."
Of course, the wedding itself wasn't private. In April 2011, William, Prince of Wales and Kate had their best balcony moment on their big day when they sweetly sealed their marriage with a kiss — and the couple did so in front of excited onlookers all over the world. In the U.S. alone, Nielsen reported that approximately 22.8 million Americans watched Kate and William's wedding across all the networks streaming it.