Inside The Rumor Kate Middleton & Princess Diana Once Met & Why It's So Wrong

Princess Diana and Kate Middleton are undoubtedly two of the most beloved royals in history. Though they captivated the world in different eras, their impact is equally profound. Diana, known as the "People's Princess," redefined the role of a royal in society. Kate, who has since taken over the role of Princess of Wales, brings a more modern touch to the royal family.

Royal fans have always been intrigued by the idea of Diana and Kate meeting before the former's death. "The Crown" brought this fascination to life with their creative liberty in the final season's episode 7, "Alma Mater." The show imagines a young Kate shopping with her mother, Carole Middleton, buying a copy of "The Big Issue" from Princess Diana and a young Prince William.

"That's very generous, what's your name?" the on-screen Diana asks her future daughter-in-law. She then encourages her son to "say thank you to Kate!" The scene ends with Kate fangirling over William, cutting out magazine photos of him to hang on her bedroom wall. Yet, while this scene might seem gratifying to those who've always hoped it might be true, this twist was based on pure fiction, not fact.

The encounter portrayed in "The Crown" supposedly took place months before Princess Diana's tragic death in August 1997. But is there any truth to it? According to Catherine, Princess of Wales, she never had the opportunity to meet her mother-in-law in real life. In April 2023, Kate made a rare public comment about it and talked about their shared engagement ring, which she never had to get resized.

"It's the same ring [as Diana's], and it's exactly the same size as when I tried it on, yeah. So it's very, very special," Kate revealed in a now-deleted Instagram video (via Facebook). "It's an honor to be able to carry on wearing it." She also said her mother-in-law would be an amazing grandmother. "Never, sadly, got to meet her...I never met her, no, sadly," she added. "Obviously, now with the children — her grandchildren — her being a grandmother... she'd be brilliant. You know, we miss her every day and that's what's important." 

But Kate's admiration for Diana became clear long before she became a mother of three. "Well, obviously I would have loved to have met her," she said in an interview with ITV News' Tom Bradby. "She's obviously... she's an inspirational woman to look up to." Kate may not have met the beloved Diana, yet royal fans think she's following in her mother-in-law's footsteps.

The pressure of being compared to Princess Diana was reportedly, at one point, too overwhelming for Kate Middleton. In his book, "Catherine, The Princess of Wales: A Biography of the Future Queen," Robert Jobson noted that after her wedding to Prince William, Kate was hesitant to take on Diana's former royal title.

"She knew she'd inevitably be compared with Diana, whose untimely death had provoked such a tsunami of anger and grief. And she was right," the author wrote in an excerpt published by the Daily Mail. "Kate found all such talk stressful. Indeed, it got to the point where she felt she might follow Camilla (who opted to become Duchess of Cornwall) in refusing — when the time came — to be known as HRH Princess of Wales."

But Prince William clarified there should be no comparison between Kate and Diana. "There's no pressure though," he told Tom Bradby. "There's no pressure because like Kate said it is about carving your own future. No one is going to try to fill my mother's shoes, what she did was fantastic. It's about making your own future and your own destiny and Kate will do a very good job of that."